Wheat Rava Kesari

The next day to Vaikunta Ekadasi (i.e. Dwaadasi) needed a sweet to be added to the menu.  Instantly, I thought of making the wheat rava kesari as against the usual white rava kesari.  It just came out really well even on the first try.

Ingredients:

Wheat Rava - !/2 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Milk - 2 to 3 cups

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Cashewnuts and Raisins - 1 tbsp

Elaichi powder - a pinch

Pachai Karpooram - a pinch (optional)

Kesari Color - a few drops

Method:

Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a kadai.  Fry the cashewnuts and raisins to golden brown and keep aside.  In the same ghee, fry the wheat (brown) rava until golden and good smell comes.  Now add in the milk and allow to cook in medium flame until the rava becomes soft for around 5-10 minutes.  This rava takes a bit longer time to cook than the regular white rava.  When cooked, add in the sugar and mix well.  After 2 to 3 minutes, add in the remaining ghee little by little until the mixture does not stick to the wet hands.  Add in the elaichi powder, pachai karpooram, kesari color, the fried nuts and raisins and mix well.  Now, the kesari is ready.  Dot in a extra spoon of ghee to give additional flavor.  This can be either scooped out and had in cups or set in a tray, flattened, and cut into pieces and served with a fried cashewnut on top.

Notes:

I chose to scoop out and serve.  I used milk entirely to make the kesari.  A mixture of water and milk can also be used or just water can be used for the kesari.  The milk gives an additional flavor to the dish but stays good only for 2 days maximum.  Of course, the dish would be finished off by then.  Make sure the rava is fine and not very coarse to give the texture of kesari.

Bread

This recipe was given to us at the 2 days' Bakery Certificate Course held at the Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.

This recipe is of the standard bread loaf available commonly in our bakeries.

Bread - Ingredients:

Maida - 1 Kg

Sugar - 150 gm

Yeast - 40 gm (or dry yeast 10 gm soaked in 100 mL water)

Water - 500 - 600 mL

Calcium Propionate - 5 gm (optional)

Dalda/Butter - 30 gm

Salt - 20 gm

Method:

1.  Mix all ingredients to a soft, pliable dough.

2.  Knead the dough well at least for 10 mins.

3.  Allow the dough to rest and ferment for 30 minutes.

4.  A standard bread loaf available in bakeries weighs 400 gm.  So, divide the dough into 400 gm quantities.

5.  Shape each piece up and place in the bread loaf mold.  Allow to sit for 30 minutes.

6.  Bake this in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 220 degrees.

7.  When baked, take it out of the oven, allow to cool at room temperature for 3 hours.

8.  When cool, slice them and pack if necessary.

Notes:

1.  Generally yeast in bakery terms represents the wet yeast that can be directly used.  These are available only in large quantities, say 1/2 kg to start with.  If you are a regular bread maker, it is advisable to get the wet yeast and use directly.  This can be used for other yeast products too such as buns, bread rolls, pizza, etc.  If wet yeast is not available, use dry yeast of 10 gm soaked in lukewarm water for 20 minutes and use the dissolved yeast solution completely for mixing the dough.

2.  While using water, a good maida that contains 12% gluten holds up to 600 mL water.  If water is used to soak yeast, reduce the water directly added to maida to that extent.  For example, if 100 mL is used for soaking yeast, then add 500 mL only for mixing the good maida so making a total of 600 mL in all.

3.  Calcium propionate increases the shelf life of the bread.  It is optional to use in bread making at home.  If calcium propionate is not used, the shelf life of the bread is 2 days in normal temperature or 5 days in the fridge.  If calcium propionate is used, the bread stays good for a minimum of 6 to 7 days.  Calcium propionate avoids mold/fungus formation.  Do not use in excess of the quantity mentioned, else results in throat irritation.

4.  Preheat oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes and then bake the bread for 30 minutes at 220 degrees.

5.  Bread older than 7 days (if good) can be dried and powdered to be used as bread crumbs in other recipes like cutlets, etc.