The Curious Case of Idiyappam

This was one food experiment that turned out to be an epic fail. Not that the dish was a disaster, just that it was not what had I assumed it to be. Assumptions, ah!
At this popular south Indian restaurant, I thought of looking beyond the much explored Dosa section and settled for Idiyappam. 

Idiyappam - now this name appears suggestive of a creative mix of idli and appam, dont you think? That is if you too, like me, hail from the north and where south Indian food menu more often than not revolves around the many varieties of dosas, idli, vada and lemon or curd rice once-in-a-while. So assuming idiyappam to be a close cousin of idli and appam, I ordered this item. Turned out, idiyappam is not even distantly related to either idli or appam!

Iddiyappam

As I said earlier, the dish was not a disaster, just a little bland. And here it was served with coconut milk, which obviously did nothing to add another flavour to the dish. It tasted more like bland rice noodles, and so probably a side dish of sambhar curry or some other vegetable curry would have probably made it more palatable. However a south Indian friend tells me that one way to eat this dish is to douse it in coconut milk, add a little sugar, mix it all up and then eat. Hmm...maybe next time, for now I know what iddiyappam is.