Reddit mentions of Butterfly Idli Cooker with 5 Regular idli + 1 mini Idli Plates

If you want to absolutely floor your BF, then consider making kothu roti. It is a very popular street food dish in Sri Lanka, and has tons of variations. Kothu means "chopped" or "cut". It is originally a leftover dish. The idea is to take leftover flatbreads such as roti or plain paratha (you can buy them in an Indian store - fresh or frozen), fine dice the roti or paratha, stir fry it with Sri Lankan spices (such as curry leaves, garlic, turmeric powder, and coriander powder) and, add an egg and any leftovers such as yesterday's chicken or sausages, and stir fry it for a couple of minutes. If you see the video above, the street food kothu vendors will then continue to mix and chop the stir fry while making a clanging sound with their spoons/scoops.

Sri Lankan cuisine is very similar to Tamil and Kerala cuisine (part of South India and very close to Sri Lanka as well). In my previous reply, the video I shared was about North Indian cooking. When most people talk about "Indian food" or what they eat in an Indian restaurant, they usually refer to North Indian food, in fact, specifically Punjabi food.

Tamil and Kerala and Sri Lankan cuisines are quite different from your typical "Indian food" aka Punjabi food. The spices are different, the cooking techniques are different, the ingredients are quite significantly different. And the food is a lot more coastal cooking - lots more seafood and coastal/tropical flavors and ingredients like using fresh and dessicated coconut, coconut milk, etc. Tamarind is also extensively used as the acid or souring agent, and black peppers are mainly used for spice.

On a side note, South Indian and Sri Lankan cooking is ancient and predates the adoption of "New World" vegetables like chili peppers, tomatoes, potatoes etc. I mean, a lot of recipes have adopted these veggies over time, but a lot of them still use the more traditional spices and vegetables like black pepper and tamarind.

If you want to learn more about South Indian cooking, look at Vah Chef's videos on youtube. He also has a recipe for kothu. Also try making appam and stew. Here's a separate recipe for just appams because the batter is key, and so is the technique. It is like making crepes - a bit hard in the beginning but once you get the hang of it, becomes easier. Similarly, consider making egg curry with a tamarind based curry.

Other staples are sambar (a tamarind based lentil and veggie soup, usually had with rice), and rasam (again a tamarind and tomato based broth, eaten with rice).

If you want a really elevated gourmet but simple to make dish, consider making Chef Vineet Bhatia's pan-fried chicken made with rasam powder, served with idi-appam or string hoppers. This dish is well worth making and is also super elegant. It is literally a Michelin star dish as Vineet Bhatia is a Michelin star chef and I think this is what he serves in his restaurant.

Idiyappams are a South Indian rice noodle dish, and you will need a special press. It costs about $20 and is well worth buying it. You will also need a steamer to cook this. Or an idly steamer.

This is a bit too much effort to be honest. You could just make the chicken-rasam dish above and serve it with white rice (or any other bread). Of you can pair it with lemon rice or tamarind rice

Hope I haven't overloaded you with too much information! This barely scratches the surface of South Indian cooking. You can also google "south indian fish curry" or "south indian prawn curry" or "chettinad recipe". Chettinad is a part of Tamilnadu that is known for its meat and seafood dishes. It is also more on the spicy side, so be warned!