Tryst With The Ramasseri Idli
As a contemporary business hotel for global travellers, Vivanta Coimbatore is passionate about championing local flavours into its world-class design and facilities. One of the most famous – and incredibly delicious – of these is the Ramasseri Idli, served during daily breakfast buffet at Latitude, the all-day diner. A larger, softer version of the South Indian idlis (fermented and steamed rice cakes), the Ramasseri version borrows its name from a quaint village in the Pallakad district of Kerala (less than 60 kms from the hotel) where only four families treasure a recipe for idlis that are flatter rounder and softer than you know them to be. The hotel has invited a couple from one of Ramasseri’s Chitra Mudaliar families to Coimbatore, which gives guests a very rare opportunity to see a family recipe being cooked the traditional way, steamed live in large clay pots covered with wet cloth. Paired with molga poodi (a fiery lentil and spice mix), various chutneys and sambar, this breakfast dish is as unique and intimately local as it can get.