RAVA KESARI

Kesari is a very common sweet in South India. It can be prepared in a jiffy.There is no girl seeing ceremony in Tamil Nadu without this sweet. Bajji and Sojji (Kesari) goes together in all those events.My mom prepares this often and I have a special liking for this easy breezy sweet

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

Rava/Sooji	1/2 cup
Sugar	1 cup
Water	1.5 cups
Ghee	1/4 cup
Cashew nuts	6
Saffron	a pinch
Warm Milk	1 tsp
Cardomom powder	1/8 tsp
Kesar food color	a pinch

Procedure:

Step1 :

Take 1 tsp of ghee and roast the cashewnuts.Soak the saffron in 1 tsp of warm milk (optional)

Step 2

Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a pan and roast the rava until it turns pink in low - medium flame.A nices aroma comes out at this stage.Transfer it to a separate bowl and keep this aside

Step3:

Boil 1.5 cups of water.Now add roasted rava slowly with constantly stirring so that no lumps are formed. Switch off the flame and leave it for 5 minutes so that all the water is absorbed

Step4:

The rava would be now cooked in the hot water. Switch on the flame and add sugar and kesar color.The mixture will dilute at this stage. Stir it continuously to avoid lumps

Step5:
Add the remaining ghee little by little until the mixture thickens.Also add the cardamom powder & soaked saffron. Switch off the flame once the required consistency is reached

Note that the consistency will get thicker after some time.So switch off the flame just before the required consistency is reached

Step5:

Garnish with fried cashews

Notes:

Though this a very easy sweet to prepare some of the beginners might have some difficulty in getting the right texture without forming lumps.There are 2 stages where we need to be careful.When adding rava to boiling water and while adding sugar. At both these stages continuous stirring is required
The rava has to be roasted in ghee until a nice aroma comes out.If not the kesari will be sticky and hard.
Make sure that the water is boiled well before adding rava
Make sure rava is cooked well in water before adding sugar. All the water should have been absorbed.If not cook for a couple of minutes in a very low flame until all the water is drained.After adding sugar, the rava does not get cooked
I have followed rava:sugar ratio of 1:2.I have a very sweet tooth. This can also be reduced to 1: 1.5
Raisins can also be fried and added for garnishing
Instead of 1.5 cups of water, 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of milk can also be added which gives a rich taste.

Checkout Microwave Rava Kesari that can be prepared with much ease.