Kesari Bhath and Khara bath.

Yaya, I am sure we are the only two people on planet earth, who eat Uppuma and Kesari together in the same plate. I don't really know how I landed up with the combination. But for a long time, every time I made Uppuma at home, I also made Kesari and you absloutely enjoyed eating both together.( Like mother, like daughter eh??)

Ingredients for Kesari

1 cup semolina

500 ml milk

a pinch of good quality saffron

5 table spoon sugar

2 table spoon ghee

10 cashew nuts

10 raisins

For uppuma

1 1/2 cup semolina

2 table spoon oil

1/2 t spn mustard seeds

One small onion sliced fine

1 inch piece of ginger chopped fine

1 green chilli

1 sprig of curry leaves

10 cashew nuts

3 cups of water.

You can cook both dishes side by side. This is how you do it

In a heavy based pan, take the milk, saffron, sugar and heat it on medium fire. Leave it on the fire and let it boil slowly

Heat the wok, reduce the heat and fry 3 1/2 cups of semolina, stirring often. It takes about 6 to 7 mints to fry the semolina. Do not let the semolina brown

Remove the semolina from the wok and cool it in a plate.

Heat 2 table spn oil in the wok, add the mustard, when the mustard start to splutter, add the onion,green chilli, ginger, cashew nut and curry leaf. Keep stirring. When the onion is slightly browned, add 3 cups of water and sufficient amount of salt. Let it boil.

By now the milk is boiling in the pan. Take 1 cup of fried semolina, add it slowly in to the milk, stirring all the time. Keep stirring till the mixture thickens. When the kesari becomes really difficult to stir , take it off from the fire and cool it.

When the water in the wok is boiling reduce the heat and add the remaining fried semolina. It is important that the semolina is added slowly and you stir it continuously.( use a long handled spoon to stir!!). When the uppuma is cooked and there is no more water in the wok, take it off from fire.

Heat the 2 tbl spn of ghee in a frying pan, fry the cashew nuts and the raisins, add it to the kesari( including the ghee). Mix well. enjoy