When we talk of comforting sweet dishes, Sooji Ka Halwa generally tops this list. Rava, Sooji or Semolina, whatever one likes to call it, is inherently palatable and extremely versatile food in itself. How would it turn up when cooked with the all-time favourite mangoes? Well, it would beautifully transform into Kesari Rava, which may sound royal and is no less in terms of gustatory pleasure. But the ease of cooking makes it unmatched with mango puree being cooked simply with water, roasted rava and a dash of ghee. Confused? It's still your regular Sooji Halwa but enriched with the luscious taste of mangoes.
All About Kesari Rava
Kesari Rava simply means Sooji Ka Halwa with saffron colour or saffron. Traditionally saffron is used to get the saffron colour, but nowadays food colour is commonly added for the colour. Sooji Ka Halwa is cooked throughout the country, with ghee and dry fruits and with or without saffron or food colour in north India. However, South and particularly Karnataka has its version of this dish, which uses fruits like pineapple, banana and mango besides the regular ingredients like semolina, milk, ghee and dry fruits. Even this dish is listed in the 12th century Kannada scripture Manasollasa, which is a work by the Chalukya king Someshvara III.
Karnataka and other South Indian states include Kesari Rava as one of the dishes in the Ugadi feast. It is famously known by the name Kesari Baat in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and as Jonnadula Halwa in certain parts of northern India. Kesari Baat is traditionally served on a banana leaf in Southern India. The dish is commonly eaten with breakfast.
Preparation: 35 minutes
Cooking: 20-25 minutes
Servings: 3-4
Ingredients:
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp broken cashews
• ½ cup medium rava
• 1 ½ cups water
• ½ cup mango puree
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ to cardamom powder
• 2 tbsp ghee
Method:
• Roast cashews in medium flame for half a minute in ghee and take out.
• Roast rava for about 5 minutes in the same ghee until it becomes aromatic. Take out and keep aside.
• In another pan, pour water, add salt and let it come to a boil.
• Then add mango puree to it, mix well and let it boil.
• Add roasted rava to this slowly and keep stirring until it thickens.
• Cover and let it simmer for 2 minutes.
• When it absorbs all the water and is perfectly cooked, add sugar and cardamom powder and mix well until sugar blends completely with the mixture.
• Then add ghee and cashews and stir the mixture until it's not sticking and starts leaving the pan.
• Turn off the heat and serve in a bowl.
• Garnish with cashews and small pieces of mango.
You can introduce more dry fruits of your choice and can also opt to cook the Kesari Rava in milk. However, this dessert tastes great even without milk. With the mangoes in season, enhance the flavour of the regular Sooji Ka Halwa by introducing the fruit into it.