Kappa Biryani

My today's recipe is Kerala kappa biriyani / Tapioca biriyani / Mashed tapioca with beef / Kappa-beef biryani. During my last vacation to India, I visited Bangalore and I stayed there for couple of days with my friends "Shin", "Meree" & "Anc". Those were undoubtedly the most beautiful days of my life as I had a nice time with my friends, did lots of shopping at commercial street, did window shopping at all those expensive malls, took some wonderful pictures together, lots of gossiping at night, had "pani puri" at least twice a day, had some great Indo-chinese food and last but not the least had the best Kappa biriyani of this world from Josettan's hotel near Koramangala. Even after I was back in US, the memories of Josettan's kappa biriyani was all over my mind, so I decided to give it a try. After a few failures, I was able to make almost the same kappa biriyani, which I had back in India and now a days I used to make it so often that my hubby started teasing me as the brand ambassador for "Josettan's Kappa biriyani".

So here comes my recipe,

Ingredients

Tapioca / Kappa / Yuca - Peeled and cut to small pieces ~ 5 to 5 1/2 cups

Beef ~ 1/2 kg - wash and chop to small pieces

Turmeric powder ~ 1 1/4 tsp

Red chilly powder ~ 1 tsp

Garam masala ~ 1/2 tsp

Black pepper powder ~ 1/2 tsp

Green chillies ~ 4-7 nos ( use it according to your personal preference )

Onions ~ 2 medium sized

Ginger ~ a medium sized piece - peeled and crushed

Garlic ~ 5-6 cloves - peeled and crushed

Vinegar ~ 1 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves ~ 1-2 stems
Mustard seeds / Kaduku ~ 1/2 tsp

Oil ~ 2-3 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method

To cook tapioca :

• First peel the skin of the tapioca using a knife, you have to remove both the brown and pink color skin of the tapioca and then chop it to small pieces. Next wash it nicely by changing the water 2-3 times.

• Then boil enough water and add chopped tapioca pieces along with 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and enough salt and let it boil for around 30-35 minutes or till the tapioca pieces are nicely cooked, do make sure that the pieces have become very soft and transparent. Next drain the water using a colander and then transfer the drained tapioca pieces to an another vessel and then mash it nicely using a wooden ladle or a potato masher and do make sure there are no lumps.

To cook beef :

• Marinate the beef pieces with 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp red chilly powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper powder, 1 1/2 tsp vinegar and enough salt and keep it aside for about 15 minutes.

• Then pressure cook the beef pieces in a medium flame without adding any water for about 3 whistles and wait till the pressure releases automatically.

To make kappa biryani :

• First heat 2-3 tbsps of oil in a big pan and add mustard seeds and when it crackles, add curry leaves followed by crushed ginger and garlic and fry for about a minute. Next add finely chopped onions and chopped green chillies and saute till onions become soft and translucent. 

• Then reduce the flame and add 1/2 tsp red chilly powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp garam masala and fry for less than a minute. Next add cooked beef pieces along with the water left in the pressure cooker and boil it for around 2-3 minutes. Finally add mashed and cooked tapioca pieces and keep on stirring it using a wooden ladle till the beef and the tapioca are well mixed and then remove from the flame after 1-2 minutes.

Cheers!!

Jisha