Kesari bat

Kesari bat
	kesari bath with cashews
Alternative names	ಕೇಸರಿ ಬಾತ್, ரவா கேசரி, రవ్వ కేసరి, रवा केसरी बाथ , റവ കേസരി
Course	Breakfast in Karnataka and Northern Tamil Nadu and Kerala, dessert in other places
Place of origin	India
Region or state	Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
Main ingredients	Semolina
	Media: Kesari bat;

Kesari bat or kesari baat (

Kannada

: ಕೇಸರಿ ಬಾತ್) is a sweet Indian food that is common throughout the country. The classic ingredients used for its preparation are semolina, sugar, ghee (usually), water, and milk. The sweet is more commonly known as Jonnadula Halwa in certain parts of northern India.

The precise composition of kesari bath varies regionally depending on the availability of ingredients. The dish might be prepared with pineapple,^[1] banana, mango, coconut,^[2] or rice.^[3]

Claims to the origin of the dish are made by

uppittu

or khara bath, and a serving of both dishes on one plate is popularly called "chow chow bath".

In

suji halwa

, suji being the Hindi word for semolina. It uses similar ingredients to kesari baat such as ghee, sugar, semolina and water. Nuts and raisins are often added, and sometimes saffron may also be added. Since this is a household dish in North India, the use of food colour isn't common. It is commonly known as sheera in Marathi/Hindi, rava kesari in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil, and suji halwa in North India and Bangladesh.

History

The dish is listed as shali-anna in Manasollasa, a 12th-century work by the Chalukya king Someshvara III.^[4]

Chow chow bath, a common breakfast in Karnataka, consists of one serving of the spicy khara bat and another of a sweet kesari bath.
Kesari bath is traditionally served on a banana leaf in Southern India.
Typical Karnataka style lemon coloured Kesari bhath with cashew nuts