Kosambari or koshambari is a typical south Indian

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

made from

pulses In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

(split legumes) and seasoned with mustard seeds. The pulses generally used are split

bengal gram The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are high ...

(kadale bele in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

) and split Green gram (Hesaru bele in Kannada). These salads are sometimes eaten as snacks, but usually as a part of full course meal.

Ingredients

Generally kosambari is made of green gram, grated coconut, coriander and chili. Optionally grated carrot or finely cut cucumber can be mixed. Oil, mustard, curry leaves,

asafoetida Asafoetida (; also spelled asafetida) is the dried latex ( gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of ''Ferula'', perennial herbs growing tall. They are part of the celery family, Umbelliferae. Asafoetida is th ...

for seasoning.

Preparation

Soak green gram for two hours. Grate coconut and carrot. Finely cut cucumber can be used too. Chop coriander, chilli. During mango season unripe mango can be grated and added.

Totapuri (mango) The 'Totapuri' mango, or Ginimoothi, is a cultivar that is widely grown in south India and is partially cultivated in Sri Lanka. It also goes by the names Bangalore, Collector, Kallamai, Kili Mooku, Gilli, Mukku, "Ottu", and Sandersha. In Bengalu ...

goes well with kosambari.
Seasoning: Heat oil in a small pan, add mustard,

(optional) and curry leaf. Let the seasoning cool down. Mix all the ingredients along with salt for taste.

Tradition

Kosambari is distributed during festivals and on special occasions. It is distributed to masses during Ganesha Chaturthi and Sri Rama Navami. During Varamahalakshmi and Gowri festivals women invite each other and exchange kosambari along with

turmeric Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast ...

and

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It i ...

to celebrate divinity in the feminine.

Gallery

File:KosambriDirstributionDuringFestivalInASouthIndianVillage.jpg, Kosambri distribution during a festival in a south Indian village. File:DirstributingConsecratedKosambariDuringFestivalInASouthIndianVillage.jpg, A boy distributing consecrated kosambri - house to house in a south Indian village. File:WomenExchangingKosambariDuringFestivalInASouthIndianVillage.jpg, Two women are exchanging kosambari in a south Indian village during a festival File:ConcecratedKosambariDuringFestivalInASouthIndianVillage.jpg, Consecrated kosambari File:CloseupofKosambri.jpg, closeup of Kosambri with turmeric, kumkum, betel leaves, betel nut and bananas. File:WomenExchangeingKosambri.jpg, Women celebrating their divinity by gifting Kosambri with

kumkum Kumkuma is a powder used for social and religious markings in India. It is made from turmeric or any other local materials. The turmeric is dried and powdered with a bit of slaked lime, which turns the rich yellow powder into a red color. In Indi ...

, betel leaves,

betel nut The betel (''Piper betle'') is a vine of the family Piperaceae, which includes pepper and kava. The betel plant is native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious perennial, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel p ...

and

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

References

{{Salads Karnataka cuisine Indian legume dishes Salads Vegetable dishes

Ingredients

Preparation

Tradition

Gallery

See also

References