Cassava/Tapioca biriyani(Kappa Biriyani)

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Description:
Cassava is a major source of carbohydrates and is often referred as Tapioca. Actually Tapioca is the starch extracted from the cassava root. This dish doesn`t require any rice in preparation even though term `Biriyani` is used for its name. Its known by different names like Kappa, Maravalli kilangu, Kasava etc. Kappa biriyani is a famous dish in Kerala.

Ingredients:
1. Cassava - 3 cups(I used dried cassava)
2. Mutton - 1kg(Normally beef is preferred to prepare this dish in Kerala, but I used Mutton and it still tasted the same)
3. Onions - 2(medium)
4. Tomatoes - 2(medium)
5. Garlic
6. Kashmiri chilli powder - 1tspn
7. Coriander powder - 1tspn
8. Garam masala - 1tspn
9. Turmeric powder -1/2tspn
10. Pepper powder - 1 or 2 tspn
11. Cinnamon stick - 1
12. Bay leaves - 2
13. Grated coconut - 1cup(small)
14. Green chillies - 3 to 4
15. Oil
16. Salt to taste

For seasoning:
1. Mustard
2. Shallots(small onions) - 3 to 4
3. Curry leaves
4. Dry leaves

Procedure:

If you are using market/farm bought Tapioca it can be directly cooked but I used dried cassava so I soaked it overnight.
Kappa biriyani is a dish prepared from mixing of Cassava and cooked meat. So, I will post two recipes, one for preparing the mutton and another for cooking cassava.

Mutton masala preparation:
Clean and wash the mutton. Cut them into small cube pieces and leave aside. Chop the onions, tomatoes and garlic. Take the cooker are pour oil. Splutter some mustard and add the garlic, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Next add the onions  and saute till they starts to turn transparent. Next add the tomatoes and salt. Cook for few seconds and add little turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, pepper powder and garam masala. Mix these powders with the other ingredients and cook for few minutes. Once the raw smell goes off add the mutton pieces. Close the cooker lid and let 6-7 whistles go. After that open the cooker and check whether the gravy is too watery. If so, cook with lids off till the gravy thickens. Add salt if requires more. Leave aside the curry to cool down

Coconut paste for cassava:

Coarsely grind the grated coconut, remaining turmeric powder, green chillies and the garlic. Add curry leaves to the paste.

Cooking Cassava/Tapioca:

After soaking overnight, wash the cassava 2 to 3 times. Transfer them to a stock pot/deep vessel and add water till the cassava submerge. Close the lid and cook for 10 minutes. Then drain the water and add some fresh water. Again close the lid and let the cassava cook. Add salt too. After cooking for the initial 10 minutes the cassava will be almost 40% cooked. So next batch of water that you add need not be more. But still they should be partially submerged. Check in between and cook till the cassava is 90% done. Next add the coconut paste and let the cassava cook completely till it becomes soft and mushy.

Lower the flame and slowly transfer the mutton masala to the cooker. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves for the mutton curry. Gently stir everything till the cassava and the mutton combines well. Check for salt. If you want you can pour some oil on top before combining the cassava and mutton.

Last step is seasoning the Kappa biriyani. Take a small wok and pour oil. Splutter mustard and then add the chopped shallots(small onions). Saute till the shallots turns golden brown. Then add curry leaves and dry red chilli. Pour this seasoning over the Kappa biriyani.

Let the biriyani cool down and serve. Enjoy!!