Caramelized Rava Kesari

This is a direct contradiction to my previous post. Yes, Carb (sugar) rich sweet recipe. Those who are in HFLC, please stay away from this. It’s exclusively meant for sweet toothed people

I’m sure, many of you know how to make a rava kesari. The twist here it is “Caramelized”, to enhance the ordinary kesari. This was introduced to me by my aunt Manju, who lives in France. This Caramelized version of kesari, impressed me so much I thought of sharing it here……

Ingredient  :    1 cup of Rava (semolina)   ;        ¾ cup of sugar      ;       3 tbsp of ghee      ;        2 cup of milk  ; ½ tsp  cardamom powder        ;     10 no's of chopped cashews

In a thick bottom pan start to roast rava at low flame for about 10 – 15 min or until a slight colour change. Transfer the rava into a plate and keep aside.

In the same pan, add sugar and put the flame at medium allow to caramelize. (During the caramelization process, water will be released from sugar) Meanwhile, boil the milk and keep it aside.

Once, the sugar turns into light amber in color, add the milk and 2 tbsp of ghee. (Take care of splatters as water and fat are in different temp)

Continue to cook and keep stirring until the caramel mixture become smooth. Add roasted rava to the mixture and star cook at low flame until the kesari starts to leave the sides of the pan.

Meanwhile, in small pan add 1 tbsp of ghee and fry the cashew to golden colour and add it to the kesari. As a final touch, sprinkle cardmom powder and serve hot or warm.

Meat Balls (Kari Urundai / கறி உருண்டை)

Meat Balls are one of mother's signature recipe. But, all these days I was forfending to do because of the fear of fat (cholesterol) after realizing / experiencing the goodness of Fat. For the first time I attempted to recreate my mother’s recipes in the HFLC style and enjoyed the goodness of meat balls without any guilt. 

Ingredient – 500gms of mined Mutton      ;     2 tsp of ginger garlic paste     ;     chopped medium onion       ;     2 chopped green chili       ;        salt to taste     ;      curry leaves & finely chopped coriander leaves      ;       ½ tsp of turmeric powder      ;      2 tsp of chili powder     ;       10 no’s of chopped cashews     ;      2 tsp of coconut oil       ;        2 tsp of  powdered  fried chana dal       ;    Coconut oil (VCO) for deep fry 

Add turmeric powder to the mined meat and sprinkle with water, pressure cooker for one whistle and remove the cooker from heat.

Meanwhile, fry onion until it change its color. Add green chili, ginger garlic paste, chili powder, curry leaves and coriander leaves and fry for 2 -3 minutes and remove the pan from heat.

Take out the pan from the pressure cooker, strain the water if any. (mutton milagu soup can be made out of this water) add the fried items, cashews, and powdered fried chana dal into the meat and mix well with hand and shape into small balls.

Heat the oil and fry the mutton balls (either shallow or deep fry) till in turns into brown in color. Since, I need the medium chain fatty acids in my diet, I used VCO coconut oil. You may even bake the balls (after brushing with butter or oil) in the 180◦c preheated oven for about 40 min.

Serve them hot with the squeeze of lemon with onion topping or tomato or mint chutney.

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