 | The thought of a write-up on idlis in cyberspace has motivated me enough to give my 2 paisa back to this wonderful thing to eat
For the unaware, Idlis are apparently also known as "Steamed Rice Pancakes", rice dough is put into a plate with craters and them put into a pressure cooker to steam ... once the cooker lets out enough of it, the Idli is assumed to be cooked and ready to eat with spice red-chilli power and oil or with cocount (any of the other variety) of chutnies ! My passion with Idlis began rather recently in 2000 (rather suprising for a Tamilian) when I spent an year working in the southern town of Madurai. Now again for the unaware, Madurai as a town (or should I say an over-grown village) is a concept ! it is a town that rivals that biggest and the heppest of cities in terms of a night life ... and I'm not kidding the least bit here. the town at any point of time has about 30 % of the population coming in from nearyby towns and villages who leave probably on the same day or next and again the next day another swarm descends on madurai. to cater this floating audience, the town has developed its down eco-system where almost everything is 24 x 7 ! |
Yes, Madurai is a town that never sleeps ! Talk of traffic jams at 1 am in the middle of the night ... Madurai's got it !
But, the reason why I mentioned Madurai is because the place has got perhaps the best Idlis in the world. Of special mention is a place in West Masi st called "Murugan Idli Kadai" (MIK). MIK has got its own special and secret receipe for making the softest Idlis (I frequently call these Idlis as being softer than a baby's bottom), served with 2 chutnies which again are not exactly classifyable as coconut or kothamalli ... probably another secret formula.
These idlis from MIK melt in your mouth (I've heard of Lucknowi Kababs melting in the mouth ... think of these as a vegetarian equivalent). I normally tuck in about 20 of these idlis whenever I went there and shall never forget the taste
The best part of the deal is that this very same MIK has now opened a branch in Chennai very near my place. Am just waiting to get stuck in to those softer than a baby's bottom idlis all over again !
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