Kesari

Try this easy,yummy sweet and impress your loved ones ;)

**************************************************************************

Category : Sweet
                     Course Type : Appetizer\Desert

    Prep Time : 30 min 

**************************************************************************

Ingredients

Sooji    (Bombay\Upma Rawa)                         -        1 cup

Cashew Nuts                                                    -        Few

Ghee  ( Clarified Butter )                                   -       1-1.5cup

Milk                                                                 -        2 cups

Sugar                                                               -        1 cup

Water                                                              -        1 cup

Elachi (Green Cardamom) Powder                   -        1 tsp

Procedure

• Turn on the heat(stove) to low and place the wok\kadai on it
• Pour 1/2 cup of ghee into it
• When the ghee is warm add cashews and fry. Do not burn them. When  they turn to golden brown, take them out and keep it aside.
•  
• In the same ghee saute sooji till it looses its raw smell and changes its color to lite brown in color and keep it aside.
• In the same wok, pour milk and water (If you are counting on calories, milk and water can be in 50-50  ratio. I prefer milk to be more as it would be more tasty.It's ratio is left completely to you.). Raise the heat to medium.
• Add elachi and let it come to a boil.
• When milk boils, add color (I use egg- yellow color) and mix.( If you don't color can have it as white color halwa :) )
• Add sugar and stir.
• When the sugar melts down completely(app. in 2-3 mins), reduce the heat to low.
• Add fried sooji to the wok by stirring it continuously. If not stirred simultaneously, lumps would be formed which is not desired.
• Place a lid on top of it for the sooji to cook completely and keep stirring in between.Might take app. 3-5 mins.  Keep an eye on it! Do not burn it.
• When it's cooked and reached to a thick consistency add the remaining ghee and stir.
• Remember that it tastes good depending on the amount of the ghee you add. More ghee more taste :) (Ofcourse, more calories too ;) )
• Done! Garnish with fried cashews.

If you wanna make it like cake pieces as shown in the picure,turn off the stove when the sooji looks like paste for better results. (i.e not thick in consistency. For this,you can add little more water intially.) Else you can also put the thick consistent kesari to a rectangular or a square box as shown in the picture and leave it for some time.

Now, place a plate or a tray on top of the box and flip it. Kesari would be like a cake on your plate.

Now ask your loved ones\friends to sing " Happy Birthday to you ...." song and you cut the cake. Just kidding folks ;) Cut it into equal size pieces big or small as you wish and place cashew on each piece.

That's it! All done! Yummy Yummy Kesari ready to eat or serve ...... 

Serve it warm or at room temperature.

Note: In order to preserve for few days, keep it in refrigerator.