Semiya Kesari

I have a very bad case of sweet-tooth and I try really hard to avoid sweets during meals. I was doing OK all these days until my husband asked me to make something sweet for lunch today. This was all I needed to start drooling and lose my resolve.

I usually end up making sakkarai pongal or rava kesari when he asks me for a bit of sweet. However, this morning I thought of making javvarisi [sago] kesari. As a kid, this was my favourite sweet - mani sojji as I'd call it :P
Thinking about it, I realized that it had been a really long while since I had had some. So, I called up my mom to find out how to make it. It sounded fairly simple and I got down to making it. Well, it turned out to be a disaster when the javvarisi dissolved in the water and there was no mani left.

By now my sweet-tooth had reached the point of no return and I had to have something sweet. I was wondering what to make and that is when my eyes fell on the box that I store semiya [vermicelli] in. The kesari bath turned out really yummy which was bad because I hardly got three spoons full!!



I do promise to try out my favourite mani sojji and post the recipe here. In the meantime, here's the recipe for semiya kesari:

Fry a cup of semiya in a teaspoon of ghee until golden brown. Set it aside.

Add a cup of water to a cup of milk and bring to a boil.

Add the fried semiya and cook until the water has almost been absorbed.

Add 3/4th of a cup of sugar, a pinch of cooking colour and elaichi powder.

Add a tablespoon of ghee and stir well until the sugar dissolves.

Fry cashew nuts and raisins in another tablespoon of ghee and pour it over the kesari.