THERE ISN'T A palate MORE DIVERSE THAN AN INDIAN ONE. AND YOU'D BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND THAT KIND OF VARIETY FROM JUST A SINGLE SECTION OF THE COUNTRY ANYWHERE ELSE.
One of the earnest ideas behind The Permit Room is to introduce people to the sheer variety of traditional South Indian cuisine, but with a modern-day take on it. Essentially it's recipes from your ajji's (Kannada for grandma) kitchen, but served in a rather modern, and also cocktail-friendly form. Your ajji may or may not approve.
Thindi Tales is an attempt to take you one step deeper, the equivalent of getting you to eat meals with your fingers, and hopefully help you appreciate south-indian cuisine in all its gastronomic glory.
This time, we bring to you one of the in-house favourites, the Kosambari Salad.
Oh gorgeous crunchy crunchiness—come to meee!
The Dish
The Kosambari is a salad every South-Indian kid has grown up with. Whether they liked it or not.
But it’s really one of those dishes that you begin to appreciate with the wisdom of age. Plus, we have some rather exciting additions at ours to speed that process up for the kids.
But let’s explore this versatile salad a little more before we get into that.
A Little History
The Kosambari has been around for the longest time. A possible reason for that might be how ridiculously refreshing it is.
But really, it’s probably because of the simplicity of the dish.
The combination of cucumber with moong dal isn’t just simple to prepare but also super nutritious and hydrating.
That’s why you’ll find this in the fanciest of diets, but also in solid meals.
And the versatility?
That’s because it works great as a bar snack, although you’re likely to find it as a great side option in some very traditional sapaad situations. (Don’t tell them you ate it at the bar also, but.)
That's colour, texture, class, and everything not grass in a bowl.
At The Permit Room
We take all the good things of the traditional salad and add a little twist of our own. Obviously.
We serve it with chicken. And bacon. Because bacon makes everything better. (Betty said so.)
For some fanciness, we threw in generous amounts of feta crumble and for Kannadiga feels, lots of pomegranate arils. Because, hell yeah!
Our Chef Says
“This is a personal favourite. It’s great to look at and taste too. Plus, I love it when dishes are both delicious and super nutritious. This works for everyone who comes here too—right from adorable ajjis seeking something traditional to ultra-mod figure conscious fellows.
It’s a burst of hydration and flavour, so really, what’s not to like? Throw in some chicken and bacon and you have the non-vegetarian naysayers lining up for some salad too.”