Pineapple Kesaribath

This is our most favorite sweet and it the best thing we have ever had. Kesari bath is a typical Karnataka sweet and pineapple kesaribath is a variation of it. Every Kannada household is sure to make this sweet for every festival and every occasion at home.

Preparation time: 15-20 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Small pineapple 1

Semolina (Rava/Sooji) 1 cup

Sugar 1 ½ cup

Milk (paalu) ½ cup

Ghee 4-5tbsps

Cardomom powder(Elaichi powder) 1tsp

Pinch of turmeric

Saffron(Kesar strands) to garnish

Dry fruits of choice

Method:

Roast 1cup of semolina in a tsp of ghee. Keep aside to cool.

Cut pineapple into cubes. Now a days most supermarkets sell pineapple slices. 4 such slices will do for the recipe.

Boil 2 and a half cups of water in a vessel for 5 mins. When the water reaches boiling point add the pineapple cubes.Leave to boil for 5 more minutes. Add 1 and a half cup of sugar and leave to boil till sugar melts to make semi-liquefied syrup (the proportion of water and sugar is to 1 cup of semolina. Please adjust accordingly)

When the sugar is forming a syrup, add 2 tbsps ghee and mix. Add a tsp of cardamom powder and a pinch of turmeric and mix (yellow food color can also be used, but turmeric is natural and thus preferred.)

Add half a cup of milk, the roasted semolina and keep stirring till it thickens into a soft pudding/halwa consistency.

On another pan, heat 2 tsps ghee. Add cashewnuts, raisins and the dry fruits of choice like pistachio, almonds etc and roast till raisins are big and transparent while the cashews are light brown.

Season the kesaribath with the ghee-roasted dry fruits and garnish with saffron. Pineapple kesaribath is a great dessert and a delicacy for a festive evening. For us of course, it can be main course too. Pineapple kesaribath can be chilled and served or served hot. Any which way it tastes “heavenly”. We wish our blog visitors a sweet and Merry Christmas!