Kappa Biriyani with Pork Recipe/ Ellum Kappem/ Tapioca and Pork Biriyani / Yucca root and Pork/ Cassava and Pork/ കപ്പ ബിരിയാണി/ എല്ലും ക പ്പേം

Kappa Biriyani (Ellum Kappem) is a popular Kerala breakfast that is usually prepared with tapioca and beef bones/ beef meat/ or both. Instead of beef, this recipe uses pork neck bones. The taste is exactly same as the biriyani with beef. The overall cooking method is to cook the meat/bones and tapioca separately and mix both of them together with a spicy coconut gravy.

If you prefer beef bones, just modify the recipe by switching pork with beef.  

Ingredients:
Pork neck bones-3 lb

#1: for cooking tapioca
Tapioca-3 lb
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Salt

#2: for cooking pork
Onion- 3 medium sized, sliced
Chilly powder-1 tsp
Coriander powder- 3 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Garam masala powder- 1 tsp
Meat masala-3 tsp
Ginger, finely chopped- 2 tsp
Garlic, finely chopped, 2 tsp
Curry leaves-2 sprigs
Whole garam masala, crushed (cardamon-3, cloves-5, cinnamon stick-1")
Salt

#3: for biriyani
Grated coconut- 1 cup
Green chilly-3 to 5
Shallots/small onion-4
Curry leaves-2 sprigs
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Meat masala-12 tsp
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder-1/2 tsp
Whole spices (cardamom-2, cloves-2, cinnamon stick-1")
Salt

Step 1: Cut pork bones into medium size pieces. Marinate it with ingredients #2 for 30 min and cook in a pressure cooker (No need to add water while cooking pork). Once it is cooked, boil off excess water from the gravy. For the biriyani, a gravy of medium thickness is required. The gravy shouldn't be too watery or loose.

Step 2: Clean tapioca and chop into medium size cubes. While chopping, remove its vein. Add plenty of water so that all pieces are immersed in water. Cook the tapioca in water with a few pinches of turmeric powder until the tapioca is soft. Be sure not to overcook tapioca. It should be firm otherwise it is gonna mash up at the end. Once cooked, add salt, and drain water.

cooked tapioca

Step 3: In a pan, slightly warm up meat masala, garam masala, and coriander powder from ingredients #3 and crush/grind (using a blender or mortar and pestle) with the rest of the ingredients #3. Transfer the crushed coconut mixture into a bowl. You can wash the blender/mortar with 1/2 cup of water and transfer into the same bowl.

Step 4: Transfer the cooked tapioca into a large saucepan. Spread the cooked pork from step 1 over the it. Next, spread over the crushed coconut mixture along with the wash. Cover the sauce pan and steam for 5-10 min. Then, open the lid, hold the two handles of saucepan and try to toss the entire contents. Next, to mix the contents, stir using the backside of a long wooden spoon in a circular motion. Do not overly mash up the tapioca.  

Serve hot!!