Food Memories & a recipe!

“What keeps me motivated is not the food itself but all the bonds and memories the food represents.”

I went to Trader Joe's yesterday...nowadays grocery shopping is the only time I get in the car and drive out somewhere, so my heart was already skipping a beat...there was no line at my local TJ's (sheer magic!) and the smiling person at the front  door sprayed hand sanitizer on my hands while giving me a clean cart...her eyes literally beaming over her mask (this social distancing is making me fanciful much?)...anyhow after giving her a broad grin which I am sure she missed (hello! mask)...I went into one of my favorite grocery stores. My shopping list was a boring one...till I got to the end of the list and took a detour aka the last three items 😉

• Milk ✅
• Celery ✅
• Carrots ✅
• Grapefruit ✅
•  Kefir  ✅
• Bananas ✅
• Basil Plant (Say What?) ✅
• Chocolate Croissants ✅
• Triple Ginger Cookies ✅

These Triple Ginger Cookies are amazing....I discovered them almost 20 years back and hooked my father on to it...I carried a couple tubs of these cookies for him every time I went back to India...we would have chai and 2 (ok ok 4 !!!) cookies and just chat. I stopped buying these cookies 7 years back after I lost him. I have no idea why but this time at the store...I picked up these ginger cookies and yesterday I had a few of these cookies with a strong cup of ginger chai (you can never have enough ginger !!!) and I remembered my Bapa...good memories, food memories...they made me smile!

My husband is Marathi...so his favorite dish is a  Sheera, having grown up in the south the closest I have come to enjoy Sheera is via Rava Kesari...I lived by the Siddhi Vinayak Temple and every Friday was a Rava Kesari prasadam day - guess who was first in line for the prasadam...yup! you guessed right. So today, I decided to go all out and make Rava Kesari (I have never made Rava Kesari !!!)

RAVA KESARI

Ingredients

• 1/2th   Cup  Truvia Blend or 3/4th cup sugar
• 1 Cup of  Rava or Sooji
• Ghee - 2-3 tablespoons 
• Edible Color Orange
• 2 Cups of Water ( boil in an electric kettle and keep handy!)
• Few Cashews and Raisins (just remembered we called them kismis in India 😍)
• Crushed Cardamom Powder (2-4 pods, discard the skin after crushing)
• Pinch of Bhimsen Kapur (edible camphor) - reminds me of the temple! I buy mine in India from an Ayurvedic store...please skip if you don't have it !!! I see it on Amazon but unsure of whether it's food grade.
• LOTS OF LOVE

How to make?

1. Turn the Instant Pot to Saute
2. Add the ghee 
3. Saute the Cashews and Raisins first, add the cardamom powder and the kapur
4. Add the Rava, Sugar/Truvia and the edible color and fry really well, till the smell of the Rava is toasty (4-5 minutes)
5. Add the boiling water & mix thoroughly
6. Turn the IP to High Pressure 2 minutes, Quick Release
7. When you open it check the consistency, if needed add an additional spoon of ghee  ( I feel like I will skip this step next time but didn't this time and it definitely made my Rava Kesari exactly like the temple prasadam)

For a first time, not to brag - this Rava Kesari was on point. 

Enjoy with your family. Remember to create amazing  food memories with your loved ones!