Kesari is one of those tasty desserts that can be made in a jiffy. Whenever anyone in our family (usually me ;)) has a sweet craving, I quickly make this and enjoy its simple deliciousness.
This Rava Kesari recipe has only 4 main ingredients and can be made in just 15 minutes.

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As I do not use food colors in my recipes, I use a pinch of turmeric powder for color in this Kesari. The taste does not change and keeps this recipe safe from artificial ingredients.
Rava Kesari Recipe
Ingredients
- Semolina – 3/4 cup (Bombay Rava, Upma rava, Sooji)
- Sugar – 1 cup (3/4 cup if you prefer less sweetness)
- Powdered Cardamom – 2 (Elachi/Elakulu/Elaka)
- Ghee – 3 tbsp (Neyyi)
- Cashew Nuts – handful (Kaju/jeedi pappu/mundiri paruppu)
- Raisins – handful (Kismis/karuppu draksha)
- Turmeric powder – 1 tsp (Pasupu podi/Manja thool)
- Water – 2.5 cups (2 cups if you are adding milk)
- Milk – 1/2 cup (optional)
Method
- Heat a thick-bottomed pan and add 2 tbsp ghee to it.
- Fry the cashews and raisins. Remove them and put them in a clean plate.
- In the same pan, in the remaining ghee, fry the semolina rava on a low flame for 5 minutes.
- Remove the roasted rava into a new plate.
- Add water and milk to the pan and let it come to a boil.
- Add turmeric powder to the water and mix it.
- Now on a medium flame, slowly add the rava to this water and stir continuously to avoid lumps.
- After the rava is cooked, add sugar, cardamom powder and ghee to it.
- Stir till the sugar is dissolved and switch off the stove.
- Top it off with the cashews and raisins you fried earlier.
- Now tasty Kesari is ready.
- Serve it hot from the stove or cool it and enjoy.
Also read: Sugar-free Badam Halwa Recipe

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Tips
- Kesari stays good for two days at room temperature and even a week in the refrigerator.
- Add a dash of milk to the bowl while serving if you want it less sweet.
- I buy this Roasted Upma Rava from Deep
. I can avoid roasting the rava step as I can use it directly by roasting it in ghee for just about 30 seconds.

Also read: Carrot Halwa Recipe (Gajar ka halwa traditional style)

Oh thank you so much for this recipe. My husband will love me so much for making him this. When I mentioned it to him he said it’s really nice and I think he’d love some authentic vegan food (considering we now live in Spain). It will also be super easy for me to veganise if I replace the ghee. Thank you ever so much ?
Lovely to hear that 🙂
Love making kesari as well as halwa with slight variations. So glad you stayed away from food color since kids love this too 🙂
thank you 🙂
Did you try it with jaggery?
I’ve never had kesari before, but this sounds fairly simple to make! Definitely going to share this with a friend that I know would love it!
Awesome..thanks!