Pineapple (Annasi pazham) Kesari

Pineapple Kesari, a best delicious sweet dish I often make especially during functions in my home. The flavour of pineapple brings a special taste. Pineapple usually has more of citric acid than sweetness. So to get rid of the citric taste, Sugar needs to be added which take away the citric nature from the fruit. I always prefer to make kesari with the natural flavour instead of adding kesar/color powder or pineapple essence. A scrumptious recipe to treat our guests...

Ingredients:

Method:

1. Finely chop the pineapples and take it in a bowl and add 2 tablespoon of sugar and keep it aside for a minimum of 2 hours. If you plan to prepare pineapple kesari in the morning, you can chop the pineapples and add sugar and keep it overnight in fridge and then you can use that in the morning. The main reason for adding sugar with the chopped pineapples pieces is that to remove citric taste from the fruit. If we ignore this step, then the kesari will be tangy in taste. 


2. In a pan, add 3 cups of water and boil the water. If you prefer to add kesar color powder, then you should add a pinch of kesar color powder(preferably yellow color) in water. But i have not used it. Remove the boiling water from flame and keep it ready


3. Add 1 tablespoon of ghee and cashew nuts to a separate pan and fry it till they turn mild brown color. 


4. Add pineapple pieces and fry for 2 minutes. Now add semolina/ rawa and fry it for another 2 minutes till we get a good aroma


5. Add the boiled water and stir the rawa nicely. You won't get any lumps while adding hot water. Keep the flame low till it is cooked and becomes thick like upma


6. Now add sugar to the pan. In this step, the beginners tend to panic because when the sugar is added, it gets dissolved and make the thick cooked rawa to again become thin in consistency. But no need to get panic, this is the nature of sugar. 


7. Mix the sugar-rawa mixture nicely to avoid lumps and keep the flame in low and cover the pan and cook it for another 8 minutes. Intially when we see the kesari after 8 minutes, we may feel that kesari is still has not become thick. But when we allow it to cool off for 1 hour, I am sure, that it would get a thicker and correct consistency. Finally before removing from flame, add remaining ghee and mix well and remove from flame


8. The scrumptious Pineapple Kesari is ready to serve. While serving, slightly warm the kesari and serve hot.