Can I eat the famous Ramessery Idli without travelling all the way to Palakkad ?. That was the question in my mind for the past few months. Finally my dream came true as KTDC Ripple Land Restaurant, Alappuzha organized a five day 'idli festival'.
The crowd was less than I expected on a Saturday and when I entered the food stall which was temporarily arranged in the parking area, the air with the smell of different types of idlis, held a delicious promise. Here five types of idlis were served - egg, chicken ,sambar, seafood and chocolate idlis.
The genesis of these idlis can be traced to people who migrated from Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu to Palakkad in search of employment. I stood for sometime at the cooking area to watch the making of these Idlies. They are flat, similar to dosa in shape and only half an inch thick. An eight inch round clay containers are covered with pieces of wet cotton cloth. A ladle full of batter is poured on each of the prepared clay steamer containers. These are then stacked one over the other, and carefully placed in the steamer. The steamer is then covered with another blackened pot.
This flat shaped idli is best enjoyed with sambar , chutney powder, coconut chutney and spicy onion chutney. It is worthy that Alapuzha can enjoy the taste of Palakkad's Ramassery idli without travelling to Palakkad.
In the afternoon, I went for a boat ride starting at 1.30 pm. To explore the backwaters of Alappuzha in a budget friendly way, I took government ferry travels from Alappuzha to Kainakary. Ticket for upper deck is Rs.60 in one way per person.
This one and half hour journey gave me a chance to see the village life from the boat, women washing clothes and men fishing along the way. The surrounding is lush green with a large spread of water, small canals, lush green paddy fields, small boats, house boats packed with tourists, cormorants and toddy shops dotting the entire landscape. I reached Kainakary at around 3.30 pm. There was a halt and had tea and snacks .
Returned to Alappuzha at around 5 pm. Drifting down the backwaters of Alappuzha is an quintessential experience.
