Tapioca Biriyani (Kappa Biriyani, കപ്പ ബിരിയാണി)

Have you ever attended a wedding eve function in North Kerala ? In many parts of North Kerala the special item served for the wedding eve get-together is something called 'Kappa biriyani' (കപ്പ ബിരിയാണി) which is made out of tapioca and beef with bones.

We can prepare kappa biriyani with many vegetarian and non-vegetarian items like Bengal Grams (കടല), Green grams, Fish (മത്തി , നത്തോലി), chicken and beef. In this post, I would give the recipe for making the dish with beef. I felt this is the super combination compared to all others. It makes me very excited write this one as it is one of my favorite dishes.

To make kappa biriyani, we can use both fresh and the dried variety of tapioca. However, if you are using the dry variety, then remember to soak it in water for a few hours before preparing the dish). Both varieties are tasty. In this recipe I have specified the fresh tapioca.  I would say that both are equally tasty. (One word of caution: if you are on a watch out for cholesterol, beware of the the beef).

Ingredients:
1) Kappa                           1 kg (peel the skin out, cut into small cube pieces and wash well)

2) Coconut                        1 cup, grated (use fried coconut or fresh one, here I have used fresh one. Fried one is more tastier than fresh coconut)
    Small onion                   6 no;
    Garlic                            3 cloves;
    Chilli powder                 ½ tsp(part of powder used in beef preparation)
    Jeera (perumjeerakam)  1 tsp;
    Curry leaves                   1 ½ spring;
    Salt                                 As needed
    Turmeric powder            As needed

3) Beef with bones (specially ribs and belly mixed)   1 kg (cut in to small cube pieces)
 
4) Onion (big)                 1 no(chopped well)
    Small onion                 6 no
    Ginger and garlic        (smashed or cut in to pieces)

5) Chilli powder              1 tsp;
    Coriander powder       2 tsp;
    Turmeric powder        As needed;
    Garam Masala            ¼  tsp;
    Curry leaves

Method of preparation:

1) Peel the tapioca, removing both the layers of brown and white skin. Cut tapioca into small cube pieces. Wash well and boil it until cooked. Drain the water.
2) Grind the items under (2). Grind only coarse and not in to a paste.
3) Heat oil in a pan and add chilli powder and coriander powder (from the items listed under 5), stir well until the color turns into brown. To this add garam masala and curry leaves. Stir well and then switch of the flame.
4) Cut the beef into small cube-shaped pieces. Cook the beef using a pressure cooker. For this put the beef in a cooker, along with the paste from the above step. Make sure  that the beef is well cooked. You might have to wait for 4  whistles or more before switching off the flame.
5) Pour the coconut mixture (prepared in step 2) on top of the cooked tapioca, above that put the cooked beef and its contents. Keep it on the flame for some time. When steam start to come, switch off the flame and mix all the items together with a wooden spoon. Then serve with hot in Banana Leaf.

Notes:
1. For this Biriyani we can use some side dishes like beef fry (ularthiyathu), or mango pickle and Salad.
2. For better taste we can also add cashew nuts paste to the tapioca biriyani.