Rava Kesari

I have been a sporadic blogger for the year. After my daughter's marriage, I had to take all my efforts to bring myself  back here. At least the festivals propelled much! Now that the pompous Diwali just around the corner has left me in my mom's house, 'in no cooking mood but lots of time in hand' mode, I decided to make one of the easiest sweets, Rava Kesari.
Mom happily agreed to share her version and this is how we made just a few hours back :)

Rava Kesari
For 20 squares
Total time needed - 20 minutes


Ingredients:

Sooji / Rava - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee – 1/4 cup
Water - 3 to 3 and a half cups
Yellow kesari color - 2 pinches
Cardamom/elaichi Powder - 2 fat pinches
Cashews and raisins - a few

Method:




Heat 1/4 cup ghee in a non-stick (preferable) or a thick bottomed kadai. Measure rava and keep ready. Fry halved cashews until golden brown followed by raisins for a few seconds until they plump up. You may not need to remove them. Just dump in rava ( frothes up in hot ghee) and sauté for a few seconds. Thus you are roasting it.




Stir in the measured water. Add food colour dissolved in a teaspoon of water. Stir all the time to avoid lumps. Let the rava cook for 3 minutes in low fire. Add sugar and stir to combine.(This is important. Addition of sugar should be after the rava is cooked well, or else rava remains grainy  and uncooked)




Stir along cardamom powder. Keep stirring not allowing the mass to get stuck at the bottom. By this time the kesari turns into a glossy mass. Transfer to a tray or a one inch deep plate.

Let it cool completely and cut into squares or diamonds .Transfer to your plate and enjoy!

 Wishing You A Very Happy Deepavali!

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Vegetable-Rava Khichdi:an anytime,quick balanced meal in a bowl.

As you might have noticed, most of my recipes and cooking methods are a little elaborate.

Thus cooking up a meal in 30 minutes, had been a little challenging for me, with a timer clock, a delightful challenge I ventured for Mallugirl's Summer Express Cooking Event.

Well,..coming to the main ingredients of this recipe, I would suggest you to Grab a pack of pre-roasted Rava/Sooji and another one of Frozen,cut Vegetables of your choice, if you sincerely would try this out.This would of course save you a clean 10-15 minutes and the cooking part will definitely take, not more than 15 minutes!.

Serves-4 portions.Total time needed-30 minutes.

Cutting the veggies-10 minutes

Cooking time-12 minutes

Making the Chutney-8 minutes

Ingredients:

Sooji(Rava) - 2 cups

A cup of diced Vegetables like potatoes, carrots,beans and peas

A tbsp of Oil

½ tsp Mustard seeds and Urad dhal each

2-3 Green chillies slit lenghtwise

A Medium sized Onion sliced lenghthwise

A Medium sized Tomato,sliced to 8 pieces

A tsp of Ginger paste or 1/2 tsp of finely chopped ginger

3 pinches of turmeric powder

Chopped cilantro-to garnish

Method:

1. Roast the rava in 2 tsps of oil in a deep kadai with medium heat till rava turns to very light brown in colour. Remove and keep aside.

2. Heat the remaining oil in the same kadai.Splutter mustards and brown the urad dal.Sauté the sliced onions till translucent. Now add the ginger and saute for a few seconds. Add in, the chopped tomatoes and chillies sauting for a minute in a medium flame.

3. Add the Vegetables and pour in 5 cups of water.Let the vegetables get half cooked by keeping the vessel closed.

4. Open and mix in the fried rava, little by little, stirring with a spatula, continuously.(Addition of rava and stirring are to be done simultaneously.Care should be taken to avoid lumps with the boiling water; reduce the heat to medium).

5. Keep on stirring the rava to get to thicker,cooked and the right consistency.

6. Remove from fire and serve hot with chopped cilantro.

Nutritional facts:

If you are a fast cook you should be through by 20 minutes.As you know, the sooji/rava is the cereal part of the dish which is rich in carbohydrates.Potatoes too contribute the same.The 'Vitamins and Minerals' part is handled by the carrot and the tomato and the vegetable(leguminal) proteins by the peas and beans.

Advantages of the dish:

1. The raw materials needed and to be shopped are minimum.

2. Easy to make.

3. Preliminary planning or preparatories like soaking and grinding are not required.

4. A simple, balanced, healthy and filling meal, suitable for breakfast, brunch or dinner!.

Vegetable Rava Khichdi goes well with coconut chutney.Go for it if you are left with a few more minutes :).. if not; simply enjoy the meal with a tsp of sugar..:)...

Time needed-10 minutes

To Make the Quick Chutney; You need to grind together:

1/2 cup Frozen Grated Coconut

1/2 cup Roasted gram/Pottukkadalai

4 Green chillies

Salt-to taste

Water-3/4 cup or as needed

and temper the ground chuntney with

A tsp of refined oil,1/4 each of mustards and urad dal each,2 pinches of hing powder and a few curry leaves.Do not boil or heat the chutney.Tempering should be done separately and poured over the chutney.

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