Tapioca has always been one of those humble items that quietly reminds me of home. Soft, comforting, and deeply satisfying, it carries the rustic charm of Kerala’s countryside—where fresh tapioca roots are pulled from the earth and transformed into simple, soulful meals. Whether served with fish curry or enjoyed as a warm, buttery stir-fry with coconut chammanthi, tapioca is more than just food; it is nourishment in its purest form. Its gentle flavor, quick energy, and easy digestibility make it a favourite across generations. This recipe celebrates tapioca in its most traditional, wholesome form—simple, hearty, and full of old-world goodness.
Ingredients
3 tapioca roots
1 liter of water to boil tapioca
Salt to taste
½ cup grated coconut to garnish in the end
To temper
2 tbsps coconut oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
3 red chillies broken into two
2 tbsps finely cut onion
A few curry leaves
Instruction
- Peeling the two skins of tapioca is important - the thin outer brown skin and the pink thick inner skin. Watch this video carefully.
I If you see black color or black lines on the white tapioca, it has to be discarded.
- Tapioca contains some natural toxins, which has to be removed by proper boiling in a lot of water and discarding that water after the tapioca is cooked soft.
- After peeling and cutting into large pieces, they are washed at least thrice and put into the pressure cooker with water to which salt is added.
- Depending on the freshness of tapioca, it may take 4 minutes to 8 minutes of pressure cooking.
- Let the cooker cool and remove the cooked pieces, discard the water.
- In a thick bottomed vessel, heat coconut oil, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the broken chillies, cut onion, and curry leaves.
- When the onions brown, toss in the cooked tapioca pieces and mix well.
- Garnish with grated coconut. Serve with pickle, onion green chilli chutney or dry coconut chutney.
To my great surprise and satisfaction, I found that breadfruit also can be cooked in large chunks and seasoned, and it tasted like tapioca:
- Breadfruit
with coconut chutney
