Ramassery Idli

also called King of Idlis

A flat, feathery idli steamed over wet muslin and tamarind-wood fire - a 200-year tradition kept alive by a handful of Mudaliar families.

Ramassery, Palakkad, Kerala

Image: AI generated · Unverified

Often called the King of Idlis, this variety comes from the village of Ramassery in Kerala's Palakkad district. Its history runs about two hundred years, traced to Mudaliar weaver families who migrated from Tirupur, Kanchipuram and Thanjavur and settled in Kerala. When the looms went quiet, the women of the household began making and selling these idlis.

What makes Ramassery idli unmistakable is its shape and steaming method: three unglazed earthen pots are stacked vertically, each capped with a wet muslin stretched over a circular sieve like a tennis racquet. The batter is poured on, spread in a circular sweep, and cooked over a tamarind-wood fire. The result is a flat, feathery disc with a meshed pattern on the underside - and a shelf life of two to three days that historically made it the perfect train-traveller's breakfast.

Today only a handful of Mudaliar families keep the tradition alive, the most famous being Sree Saraswathy Tea Stall, also known as Ramassery Idly Kada. They turn out 600–700 idlis on a weekday and as many as 2,000 on weekends.

The Recipe

Yield · ~30 idlis

Effort profile

Soak4 hours

Ferment6–8 hours

Steam6–7 minutes per batch

Steps7

Each axis is scaled against the longest example in the archive.

Ingredients

Batter

4 cups idli (parboiled) rice
1 cup whole white unpolished urad dal
1 tbsp fenugreek seeds
1 cup cooked rice (optional, for softness)
4 tsp salt
Wet muslin / cotton cloth for steaming

Method

1.
Wash and soak rice, urad dal and fenugreek separately for 4 hours.
2.
In a wet grinder, grind fenugreek (5 min), then drained urad dal with ~1 cup water (20 min), then optional cooked rice (2 min), then drained rice with 1 cup water (20 min).
3.
Combine the urad and rice batters, add salt, mix thoroughly by hand.
4.
Ferment 6–8 hours in a warm, draft-free spot.
5.
To steam, bring water to a rolling boil in a wide pot; place a strainer or bamboo steamer on top, stretch a wet cotton/muslin cloth across it.
6.
Ladle ~½ cup batter onto the cloth, spread in a circular sweep. Cover with a lid and steam 6–7 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean.
7.
Invert the cloth onto a banana leaf and gently peel away to release the flat, disc-shaped idli.

Serve with

sambarcoconut chutneyulli (onion) chamandhifiery podi

Notes

A bamboo steamer with a flat top - or even a perforated metal lid stretched with muslin over a stockpot - substitutes for the traditional stack of unglazed earthen pots. The cloth and the wood-fired heat are what give Ramassery its meshed underside and feathery texture.

Adapted from kannammacooks.com.

Where it's from

Ramassery, Palakkad, Kerala · 10.79°N, 76.65°E