Milk Kesari

A variant of the simple kesari, I loved this when a neighbor made it as an offering at a religious family function, got the recipe from her and tried it out.

Ingredients:

sooji (rava) - 1 cup
milk - 1 cup
water - 2 cups
ghee - 6 tbsp
raisins - 2 tbsp
sliced almonds - 1 tbsp
cashewnuts - 1 tbsp
orange food color - a pinch
saffron extract (kesar essence) - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Warm up the water and milk separately. Dissolve orange food color in a tablespoon of milk and set aside.

Roast cashewnuts in 2 tbsp of ghee until golden brown, drain and set aside. Roast the sooji in the ghee until it no longer smells raw and starts turning pinkish. Add lukewarm water and keep stirring to avoid lumps. Once the water gets absorbed, allow to cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Then add the lukewarm milk and continue stirring. Mix in the food color and saffron extract. Let it spread evenly. Once the mixture becomes semi-solid and reaches halwa consisteny, garnish with roasted cashews, sliced almonds and raisins.