To MadhuGiri with Tatte Idly

Date: 09 July 2006
Distance traveled: 250kms
Route: Tumkur - Madhugiri
Some basic stats:
37 bikes (the highest ever on a ride)
45 people (the highest ever on a ride)
11 Women (the highest ever on a ride)
11 Announce riders (the highest ever on a ride)
5 Announce riders cleared for membership (the highest ever on a ride)

This ride had its share of some witty one-liners.
“We need to see you come before we hear you come.”
PP started off with something that can very well go into the history books for children to learn by rote. It helps explain a rather sanctified RTMC rule of keeping your headlight on while on a group ride. (And I always thought it was just meant to help you see the road better).
“We need to see you come before we hear you come”
This profound explaination, am sure will bring absolute clarity to us RTMCians and would also placate the curiosity of the bewildered country policemen.
On the last two rides (Penukonda and this one) cops stopped the battery of bullets, “Adella OK, aadre headlight yaake??” Trying stopping us next time fellas.
If you were to ponder some more, you will realize how this is aligned with the human anatomy too. We do have eyes before the ears!! And then nature seconds this philosophy too – Lightening is seen before thunder is heard, Bingo!!!
And all the sexoholics would concur, we do need to see them come before we hear them come, right (?)

There was a lot of ‘diversity’ on this ride. The lone female rider must have inspired this one, “Everyone has to come down to his knees here.”

My tappets were making noise giving my bullet a chopper kind of feel. I could hear it over the racket of the other bullets and even inside my helmet. Nandan (my Bullet doc) had taken me through a course on tappet adjustments the previous evening to make sure I wouldn’t be stranded on the highway. It’s all here if you need to know more. And then I had to get back in time to catch my flight to Delhi. I still wanted to do the ride.
My initial plans were to join them till breakfast and then ride back. Breakfast happened at the world-famous-in-tumkur Pavithra Idly Hotel at Kyatasandra. This place just outside Tumkur is famous for its Tatte Idlies (tatte = plate). (Plz check out the recipe at the end of this post). It was 10am when we were ready to ride again and I was saying the goodbyes. PP and doc edged me to carry on another 30kms to Madhugiri. ‘To Madhugiri’ on the title of a blog sounds better than To Tumkur and so I went. Now we were riding on the state highway, first gear-second gear-third gear-fourth gear-fifth-speed breaker-repeat was the sequence for all of the 30 odd kilometers.
We reached Madhugiri by 11 or so, a few others were delayed because of a leaking tank on one of the bulls. I waited for the ride captain, Sumanth to join up before I started my way back. With the fear of loose tappets (or God knows what) at the back of the mind, I was glad I made home by 1:30, well in time for lunching, packing and boarding.
The next one week will be spent in the pink city Jaipur.

Before I leave... it wouldn't be fair, if I didn't give you a chance to experience it yourself, so here goes...
Finger-licking Tatte (plate) Idly
Ingredients:
Idly rice (Ponni rice if possible)
Urud dal
cooked rice
Fenugreek seeds(Methi)
Salt as per taste


(Disclaimer: The writing on the wall in the photograph above is purely co-incidental and may(?) not have any bearing on the taste whatsoever)
Method:
Soak Idly rice and Methi together in water for about 5-6 hours.
Soak urud dal in water for 3 1/2 hours. Drain the water from urud dal and grind it in a wet grinder with little water. Fine grind it until the mixture is frothy. Keep aside. Now drain water from soaked rice and methi.
Grind these along with cooked rice and little water in the grinder.
Now mix the ground items and add salt. Allow it to ferment for 16 - 18 hours. Then make idlys in the idly steamer. The flour is poured into the tattes (plates) and piled in a neat circular arrangement.

This is then transferred to the steam chamber. Steam the idlys on high for 10 minutes.
Steaming Tatte idlys are served best with coconut chutney and hot sambar. Surrup…