Kappa Kadala Curry (Tapioca cooked with Bengal Gram in roasted coconut gravy)

Kappa (Tapioca in English,  Maravalli Kilangu in Tamil) is one of the good sources of a few important minerals like zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, and manganese. In addition, it has adequate amounts of potassium which is an important component of cell and body fluids that help regulate heart rate and blood pressure. Its also high in fibre.

Bengal Gram (Chana in Hindi, Karuppu Kadala in Tamil) is one of the most important and widely used pulses in India.  It has numerous health benefits. It is a very high source of protein and iron. Sprouted Bengal gram is given to children owing to its high levels of protein and iron. 
Apart from iron, its also a very good source of folic acid and fibre. Kappa-Kadala Curry is widely eaten food in Kerala as it goes well with a variety of breakfast dishes such as Appam, Upma etc. It can also be eaten with Chapattis.


Preparation method:
Ingredients:
Tapioca roots- 250 gms
Bengal gram - 100 gms
Coconut- 1/2, grated
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Kashmiri chilly powder - 1 teaspoon (normal chilly powder is also fine but quantity would be 1/2 teaspoon)
Black Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 2 teaspoon
Green Chilly - 1 or 2
Onions - 2, Chopped in small size
Curry leaves - 10-15 leaves
Salt to taste


Steps
Soak the bengal gram  in water over night. The size of the gram would increase to around 1.5 times. Overnight soaked bengal gram is shown in the picture below



Cook the Bengal gram in the cooker. For every one glass of Bengal gram put minimum of 2 glass of water. Add salt as required.

Chop the tapioca into small pieces of max. of around 2 cms in size as shown. Cook the same in cooker by adding 400 ml of water, 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Once cooked, open the cooker and drain the balance water. NEVER use  this water.

Roast the grated Coconut till it turns  brownish  color and then put 2 table spoon coriander powder spread it out it into a plate to for it to cool down.

Grind the roasted coconut-coriander mix by adding  ¼ glass (approx 50 ml) of water into it. Add pepper powder into this. Keep this paste aside.

Chop two medium sized onions in small sizes. Take a pan and pour one table spoon oil. Once the oil is hot, put 2 teaspoons  of mustard into it. Once all the mustard splutters, put dry red chilly, curry leaves and the chopped onions into the pan.  Sauté till the chopped onions turn brown. Adding salt while sauteing speeds up the process. 

Once the onions turns brownish, put 1 green chilly, chopped vertically, into the pan. Add one  teaspoon of turmeric and one teaspoon of chilly powder to this mixture. 

Adding these also makes the dish tasty and colorful; apart from the health benefits associated with turmeric. 

Kashmiri Chilly powder is preferred due to the color that it gives to the dish. please note that the main source of spice in this dish is the black pepper powder.

Now, add the cooked Tapioca and cooked Bengal gram into the pan. Add the coconut–coriander pepper paste also into the pan. Add salt if required. Mix it well.

Kappa-Kadala curry of  Kerala is ready. 

Serves 6. Can be the side dish for Appam, Chapattis and Upma

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