Rava kesari recipe – easiest fool proof recipe of making Rava Kesari using the pressure cooker method. It is also called Kesari bath and Suji ka Halwa or Sheera.

It is one of the most popular sweet from South India. It is made with rava (semolina/suji), ghee, sugar, cardamom and dry fruits.

It is commonly made for special occasions and during festival season like Ganesh Chaturthi, Navrathri and Vara Lakshmi Vratam. It is also served as neivedyam in temples and made during Sathyanarayana Swami vratam. 

You can find the video on how to make Rava Kesari in my youtube channel. 

Rava Kesari is definitely the easiest Indian sweet ever. The rava kesari we eat in restaurant is velvety and moist. loads of ghee keeps the kesari soft and moist. At home we tend to go easy on the ghee, so the kesari bath tends to get dry after a while. This fool proof  method I am sharing today will give a soft, glossy and creamy rava kesari.

Kesari translates to saffron in English, its a saffron infused semolina pudding. Intense flavor, bright color and being the most expensive spice in the world, saffron is used sparingly in the dishes. Restaurants generally use orange food color while making the kesari bath.  At home I prefer using saffron.

In Karnataka, Kesari bath is served for breakfast along with uppittu or Khara Bath. It is popularly called as chow chow bath.

This is the basic kesari bath recipe. There are many other variations like banana kesari (popular during festivals), pineapple kesari, mango kesari. I have a rava kesari with condensed milk in my blog.

Few more halwa recipes from my blog–

khus khus halwa,

sooji halwa with condensed milk ,

cracked wheat halwa and

Atte ka halwa.

If you are looking for some video recipes of the Indian sweets, do try my

instant peda in 3 minutes,

chocolate burfi

Step by step pics on how to make the rava kesari-

Roasting the rava–

1. Heat ¼ cup of ghee (clarified butter) in  a pan.

2. Add the halved or full cashew to the ghee.

3. Add ½ cup of rava/sooji/semolina to the ghee and cashew.

4. Roast the rava in low to medium flame for 5-7 minutes, until it changes color slightly. The cashew also gets light brown color. Its important to roast the rava slowly.

boiling the sugar syrup-

5. In a pressure cooker add 1.5 cups of water. Add few strands of saffron. slightly crush the saffron  with your fingers before adding.

6. Add sugar to the water. you can add ¾ – 1cup sugar. Adjust the sugar accordingly how sweet you like the halwa. I added ¾th cup of suagr.Add crushed cardamom powder.

7. Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes. The saffron will release its color.

8. Bring the water to a rolling boil.

9. Add the roasted rava to the boiling sugar syrup.

10.Mix the rava well.

11. Immediately close the lid and put the whistle.

12. Immediately turn off the stove/heat.  The steam inside the cooker, combined with hot sugar syrup will cook the rava.

13. Set a side for 20 minutes. Do not get tempted to open the lid.

14. After 20 minutes open the cooker, you can see that the rava is cooked completely and plumped up. It will be soft and creamy. Mix the rava  kesari and serve.

15. Enjoy the soft, lump free rava kesari.