There’s a hybrid of idli and dosa called uttapam, which I really love and almost always have the first day I visit India… so that’s the food I associate with homecoming. I used to go to my grandmother’s house in Bangalore every summer until college. We were on a very meticulous, rigid schedule there: tennis, breakfast, singing class, lunch, dance class, math studies (I hated singing class). So the food bits were a nice reprieve. Everyone was together, and my grandmother would have uttapam or something similar. A dosa is fried, and idli is steamed; uttapam is the in-between with the best parts of both. There’s some oil, so you have that crisp bottom. But the top is doughier and thicker, so you get the spongy part. You also put fried onions and shredded carrots over the batter. When it cooks, little pockets form, and the craters are perfect for soaking up whatever chutney or sauce — there’s tomato chutney, young coconut chutney, and green cilantro chutney. I don’t know if it’s planned, but it’s all the colors of the Indian flag. You make this perfect little flag of chutneys, they seep into the little holes, and it’s very good.