By: Esther Vasa
Ingredients:
Tapioca Pearls – 1 cup
Mustard Seeds – 1/4th tsp
Cumin Seeds – 1/4th tsp
Split Black Gram – ½ tsp
Peanuts – 1/3rd cup
Water to soak tapioca pearls
Carrots – 1 cup diced
Squash – 1 cup diced
Cilantro – 1 tbsp chopped finely
Curry Leaves – 6 chopped very finely
Green Chillies – 2 chopped finely
Cumin Powder – 1/8th tsp
Cayenne Powder – few pinches
Salt per your taste
Extra Virgin Olive oil – 3 tbsp
Preparation:
Soak the tapioca pearls for an hour in a lot of water. Then drain the water completely and let the tapioca pearls soak in for seven more hours. Stir twice in between at a interval of two hours or so. If you find any powdered tapioca just rinse in water and drain the water completely. Soaking part is the key to get this stir fry properly. I tried this recipe twice before and it came out so soggy that I had to throw away. I learned it the hard way, to do it right!
Fry the peanuts until they are crunchy to the bite. Allow them to cool a bit. Then chop in a blender. Just don’t make peanut powder! Mix the peanut flakes and required amount of salt in the soaked tapioca pearls and mix thoroughly.
Heat up a pan and put two tablespoons of oil and let it heat up a bit. Then add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter. Then add cumin seeds and black gram seeds. The black gram seeds should get golden brown in color. Then add curry leaves and green chillies. Just stir for a few seconds. Now add in the tapioca pearls mixed with peanuts and some salt. Stir once and let the pearls stay in the pan for about five minutes; stir occasionally. The pearls will get clear by this time!
In a separate pan, put the other leftover tablespoon of olive oil and let this warm up a bit. Put the carrots and squash and stir fry these vegetables on high for five minutes. Put some salt, cayenne pepper and cumin powder just before removing from heat. You could use any vegetables you have at home for this.
Add the vegetables to tapioca pearls and give it a stir. Transfer to a serving bowl. This dish is simply delicious!!! I love it so much.
Preparation Time: Including the soak time about 8.5 hours
Serves: 4
