Rava Kesari | Zafrani Sheera | Sooji Halwa | Kesari Bhath | Mohanbhog

“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;”

~ William Shakespeare’splay Romeo and Juliet

If you get a bowl of dessert which smells heavenly and tastes nothing less but you are confused with the name, you are completely allowed to recite these kinds of famous quotes to save your ass. Please don’t leave the page by thinking I’m here to lecture on how to cover our dumbass acts. Actually, I have an delicious yet quick recipe to share with you all. And I’m talking about none other than Rava Kesari aka Zaffrani Suji ka Halwa. It is one of the simplest Indian traditional desserts which have different names in almost every region of the country. It is most commonly known as Sheera in Maharshtra or as Suji/Sooji ka Halwa in northern India. This Eggless Semolina Pudding is also known as Kesari bhath in Karnataka and Rava Kesari in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and lastly as Mohanbhog or Mishti Suji (I’ll try to do a different post on it soon) in West Bengal.

Rawa Kesari is a traditional Kannada dessert and popular festival dish of Karnataka. It is widely cooked during Ugadi, Kannada New Year celebration. In Maharashtra the same dessert is known as Sheera and made with only water, no milk. It is enjoyed from breakfast to lunch to dinner or even as a snack with evening teas. It’s more like a staple to west and south India. But if we look up to north India, Suji Halwa is more popular as heavy dessert with loads of gheeand dry fruits. Again in middle and eastern zone of India Sooji ka Halva or Misti Soojiis commonly known as snack with no gheeor extra added fat and with tons of full fat milk. On the other hand Mohanbhog or Mishti Suji from West Bengal is cooked in milk only with dollop of ghee,green cardamom and bay leaf. But the unity in this diversity is we Indian in love with this Eggless Semolina Pudding in our own ways.

There are several reasons why entire India has embraced this dessert with all their hearts. First of all semolina is very high in protein & carbohydrate and very low in fat (stand alone semolina). It provides almost 42% protein & 40% carbohydrate of our daily need. On the other hand it adds only 2% fat. Secondly semolina is widely available in all over India. Naturally it is sold in very economic price rate. Then Suji/Sooji ka Halwa requires only handful of ingredients like sugar, milk and gheewhich are staple in every households. And top of all Rava Kesari gets ready in a jiffy with minimal effort.

As semolina has no such taste on its own it is very easy to flavored with different ingredients and each time it seems to be another new dish. As semolina itself is an extremely versatile ingredient, different flavours gel nicely with ot. Most popular variations are saffron, rose, cardamom & pista-badam. Not only flavours or essence these days Suji Halwais experiencing a whole new level by combining it with different seasonal fruits like mango, pineapple, orange. And not to mention these fruity halwas are gaining popularity rapidly.

Rava Kesari or Sheera is one of those simplest recipes where you can’t go wrong even with your eyes closed. The only thing is remembering few basics and you are good to go. The vital point among all is ‘Do Not Add Sugar in Uncooked Semolina!’ I can write the line again in bold font with red color, if you want. Yes, it is that much important to keep in mind. Let me explain you why. If you add sugar in uncooked semolina then semolina will not get time to cook on its own; it will be glues together because of sugar. As result you will get pasty unevenly sweet halwa with raw smell which can actually give you stomach flu. So always roast semolina either in hot ghee or on dry pan and when you get nice nutty aroma out of it, add your liquid (milk or water or mixture of both) little by little; allow the semolina to soak up the liquid first then add more. Add sugar towards the end of cooking when Mohanbhog starts thickening (glues together nicely) and leaves sides of the pan easily. And that’s it! Now go, take out semolina from pantry and place the pan on stove top and start experiencing heaven on mother Earth!

Here is the recipe of heavenly Rava Kesari (Rawa Kesari) aka Kesari Bhath from south India, Zafrani Suji Halwa (Sooji Halva) from north India, Sheera from West India and Mohanbhogor Mishti Suji in east India.

Preparation Time: 05 mins

Cooking Time: 20 mins

Resting Time: 05 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

Read the entire recipe and tips carefully before you start cooking.

Do make sure all ingredients are at room temperature (unless mentioned) and weighted or measured correctly in appropriate weighing machine or measuring instruments such as cups or spoons. Remember these are not your regular cups or spoons which you use in your daily life.

Semolina: 1 cup

Sugar: ½ cup to ¾ cup (depending on your sweet tooth you can add upto 1 cup) (See Tips)

Clarified butter (ghee): 3 tbsp + 1 tsp (for greasing the molds, if using any) (See Tips)

Saffron: 1 pinch (See Tips)

Saffron food colour: ¼ tsp (optional)

Cashew: ¼ cup

Raisin: ¼ cup

Rose water: 1 tsp (optional)

Water: 1 cup

Almond Milk: 2 cup Or any other milk Or equal amount of water (optional) (See Tips)

Equipment:

Medium mixing bowl

Saucepan or Wok

Molds of your choice

Spatula

Preparation:

Begin with preparing the Saffron Milk. Take ¼ cup of milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 sec. to warm it up only. Sprinkle saffron in warm milk and keep aside. After 5-10 mins stir well. Saffron will show it’s colour and milk will turn into pure gold colored.

Take 1 tbsp of clarified butter aka ghee in the pan and heat it on medium flame until melts. Don’t overheat the ghee as the excess heat kills the beautiful aroma of ghee. Add cashew and fry for 1-2 mins or until lightly browned. Add raisins and fry for another 1 min. or until raisins turn fluffy. Once done, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add 1 tbsp of ghee in the same pan and heat it in same manner. Add semolina in the hot ghee /clarified butter and stir continuously to avoid lumps.

Roast the semolina on medium low flame and stir continuously. Soon you will notice the color of semolina of changing and it’s turning to golden brown. Be careful not to burn. Keep an eye on it as it has the tendency to burn quickly.

When the semolina is colored evenly, pour warm milk (I repeat use warm milk not room temperature milk) little by little in it and stir continuously. Allow to cook it for 1 min on low flame. (See Tips)

Once semolina absorbs the milk completely add more milk and cook on medium flame for 1-2 mins. Stir the mixture continuously. Once the mixture starts thickening, pour water little by little. Stir & allow it to cook on medium flame for 2-3 mins more.

Again the mixture will start thickening. Now add the saffron food colour in the semolina mixture and mix well until there is no visibility of individual colour dots. Add more colour if required. Add sugar and stir well to mix evenly. Mixture will be bit liquidy again after adding sugar. Don’t panic; continue stirring. Stir the saffron milk lightly and pour on the semolina mixture. Stir very gently to incorporate everything. (See Tips)

Within a minute the mixture will start leaving the pan. It’s time to add the rose water. Turn the flame low and stir continuously. (See Tips)

When mixture leaves the pan completely and glides smoothly, your Rava Kesari is almost done; just finishing touch is needed. Add last 1 tbsp of ghee in the pan and stir well to mix nicely. (See Tips)Once ghee is incorporated with the mixture, switch off the flame. Add fried dry fruits, mix and transfer immediately to the serving bowls and serve warm.

Or pour the mixture into previously greased (with butter/clarified butter) molds. Keep the molds in wire racks and allow them to cool completely. Once molds are cooled completely, unmold them carefully. Arrange the warm Rawa Kesari on serving plates, sprinkle some roasted dry fruits, add dollop of ghee (shhh it’s a secret) and serve immediately.

Serve warm or at room temperature; but this heavenly Zafrani Suji Halwa tastes delicious when served warm. Excess Semolina Pudding can be stored for 4-5 days in air tight container at room temperature. For longer shelf life refrigerate. Remove from fridge just before serving, add dollop of ghee on top, warm it up in microwave and revisit the heaven again and again!

Variations:

1. Use only water instead of milk as this is the way traditional Rawa Kesari is cooked.

2. Use any regular milk instead of almond milk.

3. Use Coconut milk or rice milk.

4. Use any other flavour/essence instead of rose water.

5. Use any other spices of your choice instead of saffron and rose. Like cardamom, cinnamon etc. Play with the flavours.
6. Use different seasonal fruits like mango. pineapple, orange to produce ecotic fruity halva.

Tips:

1. ¾ cup sugar will add just a mild sweetness to the dish, just the way I like my desserts. if you are a fan of typical heavy Indian sweets, use 1 cup to 1 ¼ cup sugar.

2. Do NOT compromise on ghee. It is the heart of the dish.

3. You can skip the saffron and add any other flavour of your choice.

4. Traditionally only water is used for Kesari, no milk. But to enhance the richness many people use regular full fat milk. Personally I’m lactose intolerant meaning I can’t consume any dairy product. Hence I have to substitute all the dairy products with other non-dairy products in my recipes. I chose almonds milk because semolina tends to have a good bonding with nutty flavours. You can either use only water or regular full fat/skimmed milk or any other vegan milks for this recipe. Even coconut milk will go really good with the taste.

5. If you want to store the pudding for longer time, skip the milk and use equal amount of water only. it will increase the shelf life.

6. Don’t add the sugar before semolina is cooked otherwise the taste & texture of Halwa or Kesari will be compromised.

7. The final dish should be lump free and smooth. After whisking continuously it is hard to find any still if you can spot any, break them with the back of your ladle/spoon.

8. The tough of ghee on final dish enhances the richness of the halwa. If you are not comfortable to use that much ghee, mix 1 tsp ghee with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (colorless odourless) to cook semolina and dry roast dry fruits but add 2 tsp to 1 tbsp of ghee on the final kesari. This way you can save excess fat without compromising in taste.

Comments

Veena Theagarajan says

09/09/2015 at 2:56 pm

lovely color.. so yum!

Rimli says

09/09/2015 at 2:58 pm

Thank you Veena. It was quite an experience for us 🙂

Arnulfo says

05/15/2018 at 9:45 am

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