My native place, Palghat, is a sleepy town. It is like a Shanngri la. Nothing much has changed in Palghat, despite it being a rice bowl of Kerala and a District head quarters. The town has been unspoit by the the shopping malls that has sprouted up in other parts of Kerala. The shops that were part of my life while I was studying more than a quarter century back are still there. The Cinema theatres are still Aroma, Priya Darshini, New Theatre (name has changed), Priya, etc. TNVR, Ashok Bhavan, Hariharaputra Vilas, Nalanda - the old eating joints are still flourishing, with the same fare. Only the Indian Coffee House is missing. Model Sports Club, Basheers book shop, the various soda sherbeth shops, the numerous vegetable shops - all remain exactly as they were a few decades back. Half the town still has tiled roof buildings. Curious to say, it is the new shops that has come up since my leaving the town in mid 80s, that have withered away. It is as if time and progress has passed Palghat by.
And personally speaking Palghat is none the worse for it. People are never in a rush, they have time for socializing and are still not ambitious. They are content.
But this blog post is not about Palghat. It is about a small tea shop, Sree Saraswathy Tea Stall, about 15 kms from Palghat, 5-6 kilometers off the NH 47 , in the middle of paddy fields, called Ramassery. It is worthwhile to travel to this place, which is connected by a bus which comes once in an hour, just to eat the delicacy that it is famous for - Ramassery Iddly.
These iddly's as you can see from the picture on the right are special. They look more like small dosas than iddlys. Only three families in Ramassery have the knowhow. These families had originally come down from Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu. They have a speciall process. The rice used for the iddly dough is carefully cultivated and the combination is known only to these three families. The iddlies are made in wooden stoves and in pots made of Clay. They are extremely tasty. The best part of the iddly is that you can keep it in room temparature for 4-5 days and it wont get spoiled. The tea shop just has a couple of benches and tables made of wood. The iddlys are served in plantain leaves with the iddly chilly powder and chutney. You can easily eat 8 -10 iddlys. Each iddly costs a measly Rs 3 and these iddlys are not available anywhere else. As per the traditions in rural Kerala, you have to remove the plantain leaves yourself once you have eaten.
The tea shop gets bulk orders for iddly for feast associated with marriages in Palghat. To serve Ramassery iddly as breakfast in a marriage means that you are in the top of the list socially and statuswise.
Take my advice. Next time around if you are driving past Palghat in the early hours, take a detour at Kanjikode towards Ramassery, a small winding rural road, and enjoy this delicacy. For once you have eaten Ramassery iddly, you will not like to eat any other iddly in your life.
If you have a great product, customer will come in search of it. Ramassery iddly is the ultimate in product differentiation.
