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Sekai Gohan
Kesari Bath: Karnataka-Style Semolina Sweet (Kesari Bat)
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Amount | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Fine semolina (rava / sooji) | ½ cup | The body of the sweet. Roasted in ghee and oil without browning |
| Sugar | 1 cup | Added only after the rava has absorbed the water and cooked covered |
| Water | 2 cups | Colored and boiled in a separate saucepan, then poured onto the rava |
| Melted ghee | ⅓ cup | Heated with the oil at the start to fry the cloves and cashews and roast the rava |
| Neutral cooking oil (odorless) | 1 tbsp | Goes in with the ghee at the start |
| Cardamom powder | ½ tsp | Ground cardamom, stirred in at the end |
| Yellow food color | 2 pinches | Colors the water |
| Cashew nuts | a few | Fried golden, set aside and returned at the end |
| Cloves | 1–2 | Fried with the cashews, set aside and returned at the end |
| Salt | a pinch | Added after the water and rava are mixed |
| Ghee, for greasing the bowl | a little | A thin coat inside the serving bowl |
Steps
1Heat the ghee and oil together
Pour ⅓ cup melted ghee into the kadai.
Add 1 tbsp neutral oil to the ghee.
Oil joins the ghee before heating Warm the ghee and oil together in the kadai.
Only fat in the pan at this stage 2Fry the cloves and cashews
Add 1–2 cloves and a few cashews to the hot fat.
Fry them, stirring, until the cashews turn golden.
Stop when the cashews are golden 3Take them out and set them aside
Lift the cloves and cashews out with a spoon into a small dish and keep them for the end. Leave the remaining ghee and oil in the kadai.
4Roast the rava in the same fat, then turn off the heat
Add ½ cup fine rava to the ghee and oil left in the kadai.
Stir and roast until it smells fragrant, without letting it change color. The grains should stay pale and coated in fat. Browned rava changes the flavor and color of the finished sweet.
Fragrant but still pale Turn off the heat. Leave the roasted rava in the kadai.
Heat off before the water goes in 5Color the water
In a separate saucepan, stir 2 pinches yellow food color into 2 cups water.
6Bring the colored water to a boil
Bring the colored water to a boil in the same saucepan.
7Pour the boiling water onto the rava
With the heat under the kadai still off, carefully pour the boiling colored water onto the roasted rava. It will splash. Wear oven mitts, pour slowly and keep back from the steam.
8Mix, add salt, then absorb over medium heat
Mix the rava and water right away so lumps don't form.
Add a pinch of salt.
Salt goes in after the water Turn the heat back on to medium and keep stirring until the rava has absorbed the water.
Back to medium heat until the water is taken up 9Cover and cook for 3–4 minutes
Put the lid on the kadai.
Cook covered for 3–4 minutes.
3–4 minutes under the lid 10Add the sugar and let it loosen
Add 1 cup sugar to the cooked rava.
Mix it in. As the sugar melts, the mixture turns loose and watery. This is expected; keep going.
Loose and glossy for now 11Stir until it leaves the sides of the pan
Keep mixing and cooking until the mixture thickens again and starts to leave the sides of the pan.
12Add the cardamom and the fried cloves and cashews
Add ½ tsp cardamom powder.
Return the fried cloves and cashews to the pan.
Back in go the cloves and cashews Mix everything through.
One last fold to spread them evenly 13Transfer to a greased bowl and flatten
Spread a little ghee thinly inside the serving bowl.
Transfer the sweet into the bowl. It should still be soft enough to flow in a loose ribbon.
Soft enough to flow from the pan Flatten the top with a ladle.
Smooth the surface gently 14Serve warm
Serve the Kesari Bath warm.