A South Indian rice meal from Komala's

I had not expected the deep rooted heartiness found in Komala Vilas but in retrospect, this South Indian rice meal was not bad at all. Satiated my craving for Indian food. It was probably the combination of the best sauce in the world, the savoury sambar, tender spicy vegetables, hot steaming rice (that accidentally steamed the crisp out of the papadum) and yoghurt that did the trick. The relatively fast service meant that this was viable for me as a quick fix without having to travel too far out of my usual routes.

What caught my interest today was the little stalk of what appeared to be dried chilli that tasted pretty salty. Any idea what were those things?