Kappa Puzhukku / Mashed Tapioca with Coconut and Spices.

Kappa or Tapioca is a staple food, any Keralite would reach for.Grown easily in his soil, a Keralite never feels tired of trying out the various authentic dishes.
Kappa puzhukku is one among them, where coconut and other spices blend along with the cooked tuber in a balanced way.

Wiki says, “Tapioca is a word derived from the Tupi language of Brazil (from tipi'óka).Cassava is native to South America.Cassava, often referred to as tapioca in English, and kappa or kolly or maracheeni in Malayalam, is a staple food. In Tamil, the roots of tapioca is called Maravallikezhangu.
In other parts of the world, the bitter-cassava plant may be called "mandioca", "aipim", "macaxeira", "manioca", "boba", or "yuca".

Kappa puzhukku goes well with Spiced up Meen curry without coconut.Vegetarians may have a variety of mulagu chammanthis, preferably coconut-less of their choice.The puzhukku as such has all the necessary flavours in it and can be had, as such too.

Cleaning and Cooking the Tuber.

Chop the tuber across to 2 or 3 chunks.Discard the outer brown skin.Remove the adjacent pinkish layer as well.Wash well.Boil in a large pot with excess water and drain away now and then.(Tapioca is said to contain a toxin which might be harmful and this process of draining becomes necessary for the safer side)Refresh with more water until it cooks soft.(I usually avoid the pressure cooker method which is simpler and resort to the direct cooking and draining method to avoid the presence of toxins as mentioned above.)

Cooked Tapioca(after the above steps)-mashed to large lumps-2 large cups

To grind coarsely,

Coconut gratings-1/3 cup
Green chillies-4
Shallots/Ulli-3 nos
Garlic-1 clove
Cumin seeds/Jeerakam-1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

To season,

Coconut oil-A tbsp
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Red chillies-2 nos, broken to 3 pieces each
Curry leaves-A stalk

Preparation of Puzhukku.

Transfer the Tapioca lumps to a large pot.Add about 3/4 cup of water.Now add the coarsely ground ingredients to the pot along with.Stir well and bring to a boil.Keep the flame medium and then simmer till the semi thick consistency is reached.This will take not more than 20 minutes on the whole.(Add more or less water to adjust to the consistency of the dish.)When the dish cools down it tends to become thicker.

Heat coconut oil in a small pan,splutter mustard seeds and turn off the fire.The heat will be enough to lightly toast the red chilly pieces and wilt the curry leaves.Pour this over immediately to the Puzhukku and serve hot.If you are looking out for the recipe of the Meen Curry in the picture it is here. :)

Note:
In some parts of Kerala, Kappa Puzhukku is served “un seasoned”.The tempering part is skipped and a tbsp or two of Coconut oil or pacha velichenna is directly added to the hot puzhukku and combined before serving.

The Backwater here is located just 2 kms away from Kottayam, Kerala.
The River is roughly a five minute walk, away from my parents' house.

This post, is again for Jyothsna who hosts RCI-Kerala for the month.

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