Kesari bath/ Rava Kesari/ Ksheera/ Sooji ka halwa

Hello Everyone,

I'm very glad to present to you my first ever recipe on the internet. So, I wanted to start with a traditional dessert recipe, which is called by different names in different parts of India. While it is called as Kesari bath or Rava Kesari in the south, it is called as Ksheera or sooji ka halwa in the northern part of the country. You can use this sweet as a prasad for pujas or as an accompaniment to any breakfast item like upma/poha.

Here, I have not added any artificial colour as I avoid artificial agents as much as possible. You can add it if required. But, except for the colour, I can guarantee you the right taste and right texture for this simple yet delicious dessert. Here, rava used is the thinnest variety, it is also called as chiroti rava in many places.

Servings - 2

Cooking Time - 15 min

Ingredients

1. Rava - 1/2 cup

2. Sugar - 1/2 cup

3. Ghee - 1/2 cup

4. Water/ Milk - 2 cups

5. Kesar (Saffron) strands - 1 pinch, optional

6. Cardamoms - 1, peeled and crushed

7. Raisins and cashews - handful, diced

Steps for preparation:

1. In a pan, add 1 tsp ghee, raisins and cashews, fry them and keep aside.

2. In the same pan, add rest of the ghee and add rava after the ghee melts. Simultaneously, heat milk along with kesar strands and cardamoms in another pan or bowl. Let it boil completely.

3. Keep roasting the rava until it turns golden brown. This has to be done on a low flame and should be done without leaving a gap.

3. After rava turns golden brown, add the boiling milk little by little to it, while stirring and close the pan. Keep stirring in between.

4. After all the water is absorbed by rava, add sugar and mix well. Sugar melts at this stage and leaves some moisture. So, wait for this water content also to be absorbed by your almost prepared dessert. (You can add artificial colour at this stage if you want to)

5. After rava starts leaving sides of the pan (), turn off the stove and add raisins and cashews.

6. Most importantly, serve with love. :)

Some important tips:

1. Sometimes depending on variety of rava, it may need more milk than 2 cups. Don't panic, you can add little water and mix well at any stage.

2. Rava should be fried evenly, rightly to golden brown. Otherwise, rava won't cook well.

3. You can replace milk with water or use half water and half milk too.