Kesari

Diwali harks the beginning of the the Festival season that goes on nonstop till the end of the year . So excited its here ! With celebrations comes guilt free eating and for me that guilty pleasure would be mithai. I will repent later but for now I have to have all that ooey-gooey sweet delicious-ness.

This year, I wanted to try something new so I went looking for some inspiration. Wait....!!! How about that kesari served at the local south Indian restaurant(which shall remain nameless here) . I skipped past the pineapple and the mango version and decided to stick with just plain kesari for now. Lets see how this turns out and then I shallst get more adventurous.

You need:Sooji/Rava/Semolina -1/2 cup

Sugar-1/2 cup

Water-1 cup

Ghee- 2 tbsp

Saffron- a few strands

Milk-3 tbsp

Chopped dry fruits(raisins, pistachios, almonds)

Cherry- 1 (for garnish)

This is how you make it:

Soak saffron in warm milk.Heat ghee in a pan , roast the dry fruits and keep aside. Now, roast the rava in the pan( in the ghee still left in the pan) for about 6 minutes . Add the saffron milk mixture, water and keep stirring to avoid lump formation. Fold in the sugar and cook . Add the roasted nuts , stir a little bit more and take it off the stove. Garnish with glazed cherry and serve.

I offered this as bhog(oblation) for the Diwali pooja and got glowing reviews from my friends and neighbors as well . I loved that the saffron/kesar imparted a vibrant yellow color to the kesari-so festive!

Kesari - Mission Successful

An offering to Goddess Lakshmi for Diwali

Try it and let me know how your kesari turned out. Happy mithai making.