Rava kesari

Kesari can be made without much pre-planning, especially if you are someone like me, who at times cook on a whim. It is a quick recipe with only a few ingredients, can be made in about 10 minutes and is definitely enough to satisfy your craving for something sweet !! It is a versatile dish which can be made plain, or dressed-up with fried nuts and dry fruits.

Recipe (Serves 5)

Semolina/Rava/Sooji/Wheatlets - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Yellow color - optional

Cashewnuts/Almonds - a few (optional)

Raisins - 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:

Heat the ghee in a pan and fry the nuts until golden brown. Keep aside.

Fry the raisins until they puff up. Keep aside.

In the same ghee, fry the rava until golden brown (approx 5 min on medium heat).

Add the yellow food color to the water.

Reduce the flame to low.

Pour the water into the pan and stir well so that rava is mixed in with the water. (The water will be evaporated in about a minute).

Stir in the sugar and mix well, so that no lumps are formed. Break up the lumps, if any, using a wooden spatula until the mixture is smooth.

Bring up the flame to medium and stir the mixture so that the excess moisture is evaporated and the kesari appears to come together.

Transfer the kesari to a pie-pan (or any other mould) and smooth the top.

Once cooled, transfer the kesari by keeping another plate over the pie-pan and inverting it.

Cut out into desired shapes.

Garnish with fried cashewnuts, almonds and/or raisins.

Tips:

1. Kesari can be made without the food color, but yellow color makes it more appetizing.
2. The fried rava will give off a toasted smell and will be golden brown.
3. Once cooled, the kesari will still be soft, but will hold its shape.
4. Use dry-ingredients measuring cup for rava and sugar and liquid measuring-cup for water.
5. The pictured kesari has almonds and raisins as garnish.