Our driver pulled up the car close to a small thatched roof house. It was also a take out restaurant. The front yard was swept clean. There was an open veranda in the front with terra cotta tiled floors and whitewashed walls. A few small plain dining tables and wooden benches were arranged neatly in a corner for customers. A middle- aged man opened the door and came out. Sitting in the car, I could hear my cousin explain to him that I have come all the way from America to study his Idli making. From the big grin on his face I knew that he was happy to welcome a visitor from abroad.

The owner invited us to his house/restaurant. Right behind the veranda was a very small kitchen with three wood burning stoves across the back wall. A large pot of idli batter was kept on a small raised platform on one side of the stove. A young woman was in the process of making idli. I watched her as she continued with her work.

Right behind the veranda was a very small kitchen with three wood burning stoves across the back wall. A large pot of idli batter was kept on a small raised platform on one side of the stove. A young woman was in the process of making idli. I watched her as she continued with her work. She covered eight-inch round clay containers with pieces of wet cotton cloth. Fire logs flickered as they burned under blackened steamer pots. She stirred a large pot of batter vigorously with a ladle. Then poured ladle full of batter on each of the prepared clay steamer containers. She stacked four of them, one over the other, and carefully placed the stack in the steamer. She covered it with another large blackened pot.

By then the idli steaming on the adjacent steamer was ready. She lifted the cover, and slowly removed the stack of clay containers. That is when I noticed that they had hollow bottoms. They were tightly stringed with twine, almost like a tennis racquet. And the piece of cotton cloth was spread over these strings. She placed a large flat jacktree leaf over the idli and slowly turned it upside down. The idli slid off perfectly. She transferred it carefully to a rattan tray lined with fresh banana leaves.
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