RAVA KESARI

    “ Rava kesari” is the easiest sweet,that can be prepared in a jiffy,still a popular delicious sweet. Its considered to be the easy to make sweet,all experienced cooks like mom, MIL  makes now and then with ease..  For me too luckily I have not struggled much to learn making it. But I have seen many who run into trouble or don’t get it right. The major trouble you get when making is getting lumps. There are two stages in the process where there are chances to get lumps..One is while adding rava to boiling water and the second one is while adding sugar to cooked rava. But the key is add slowly rava or sugar and stir properly&constantly.

       For me,I love making sweets,I love each and every process we do and I enjoy the out come,its every time like how a person feels the success…(well lets not be too greedy,let me stop here,when I run into trouble and don’t get it right I will feel very low in confidence and feel as if I am zero in cooking,that’s a different story). But if you ask my hubby,he always tells a short story in the topic kesari. He loves kesari more than me or may be before falling in love with me he fell in love with it and still he has an affair.  When he was in his teens,when ever my MIL leaves to market or shopping leaving him behind at home, with in the time she comes back,he used to make kesari,enjoy it and cleans everything and keep so that she doesn't get any doubts immediately... But every time he wonders how amma’s kesari is so colourful and mine is ugly in colour(with out knowing that there is a thing known as food colour to make it colourful ). And yes now he makes a perfect kesari,if I want him to make! Ok let me move on to how I make Kesari.

 

Ingredients

Rava/sooji/semolina	1/2 cup
Sugar	3/4 to 1 cup
Water	1 & 1/2 cup
Ghee	1/4 cup
cardamom powder	A pinch
Cashew nuts	7-8 nos
Kesari colour	A pinch

 

 

Method

1. Heat a pan(non stick to make it easy) add the rava with the ghee (mentioned minus a tblsp). Fry in medium flame,with constant stirring until a nice aroma comes (the rava will start turning golden brown).Transfer the mixture to a plate and set aside. Add the water to the pan and bring to boil. Add the fried rava little by little to the boiling water and keep stirring simultaneously.Take care no lumps are formed,keep in medium flame and stir well.  
2. Keep in low flame and cook covered for 3-4 minutes or until the rava gets cooked well.
3. Add the sugar,kesari colour and keep the flame in medium and stir well.
4. some times,when u add sugar and mix,immediately you may find very few lumps,but don't panic,stir well as in a way to mash those lumps gets mashed well.
5. Stir in medium flame for 4-5 minutes or still the kesari forms as a whole mass(doesn't stick to the pan at all).
6. Add ghee fried cashews,elachi to this if desired.(in a tblsp of ghee we reserved before)
7. Optional :Grease a plate with ghee and spread the kesari in it and after cooling down,draw as diamonds with a knife.

I am sending this sweet to sweet  Priti’s  Festive food - Raksha Bandhan 2010 at Indiankhana.


Notes:

If you notice, I have added all the ghee I desired to use,I have used that while frying the rava itself…This is the easiest way to reduce the probability of the lumps formation and also you need not keep on adding while you stir later in that hustle bustle. I dint add elachi powder,cashews as my hubby never likes that.(The  cashews are kept on the top for my kesari to look pretty in the photos ) You can add the yellow food colour too for a change. If you dont want to cut into pieces and eat as such,switch of the stove before a minute mentioned and enjoy as such! You can also add milk instead of water for a different taste! I always use home made ghee,which gives an excellent aroma.. Make sure that the rava gets cooked well otherwise you may not get a soft textured kesari and it may turn chewy/rubbery . Because after you add sugar the rava wont cook easily. So make sure the rava gets cooked soft before you add sugar!

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