Pineapple Kesari, a delicious sweet made from semolina and pineapples. It's one of the famous sweets that's usually served in the South Indian marriage feast. 

The pineapple gives such a nice aroma to this kesari and truly elevates the taste of the kesari to the next level. This recipe is so similar to the regular kesari recipe just with the addition of pineapple. So you can make this very quickly for any occasion. I'm sure that your family and friends go on praising you for making this yummy sweet.

Pineapple

Pineapple is the key to this kesari so make sure to use well ripened and sweet pineapple. Here in the recipe, i have used fresh pineapples. But you can also use canned pineapples. 

While using fresh pineapples, make sure to remove all the eyes of the pineapple(a tiny thorn in the pineapple which gives itchiness in the tongue)

If you're using canned pineapple, use only pineapples and leave out the juice.

My pineapples are very sweet so i used 3/4 cup of sugar for 1/2 cup of rava. If the pineapples are less sweet, you may need a couple of tbsp of more sugar.

Finally, don't use the sour pineapples, it won't taste good  and ruins the whole recipe.

Related: How to make Pineapple raita

Water

For any kesari recipe,  the water quantity is very important to get that perfect texture. In general, 2 to 2.5 cups of water is needed for 1 cup of rava to get that soft and well cooked kesari depending on the rava quality.

Adding too much water makes the kesari sticky and slimy. And too little water makes it undercooked.

Therefore, when boiling the water, don't let it boil for a long time because some of the water evaporates and it affects water and rava ratio . So turn off the heat when the water comes to vigorous boil and pour that immediately into the roasted rava. 

How to avoid lumps in the kesari ? 

This is one of the common questions from the beginners while preparing the kesari. Here is my tip that i learned from my Amma. 

Make sure that both the rava and water are hot when they are mixed together. That way, there won't be any lumps in the kesari.

Hence you have to roast the rava and boil the water side by side at the same time. So that when the rava is well roasted, the hot water would be ready to pour. 

If you haven't tried this way of making kesari, do give it a try and i'm sure that there won't be any lumps. I have been following this method ever since i started cooking and so far, i never had any lumps in my kesari :-)

Ok, now let's check out on how to make delicious pineapple kesari.

 

Pineapple Kesari | Pineapple Sheera

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 4 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Pineapple Kesari, Pineapple sheera Pineapple Kesari, a delicious sweet made from semolina and pineapples. It's one of the famous sweets that's usually served in the South Indian marriage feast.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Ravai/ Rava / Semolina - 1/2 cup

Pineapple(finely chopped) - 1/2 cup(heaped)

Sugar - 3/4 cup*

Ghee - 2 & 1/2 tbsp

Cashew - 8 to 10 

Water - 2 & 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp(optional)

Yellow Food Color - a few drops(optional)

*For more sweetness, you can use up to 1 cup of sugar.

Procedure

First in a saucepan, add the pineapple, sugar & mix it well. Keep it aside for 10 mins.

After 10 mins, the sugar starts to melt a bit. Now add the water, mix it well and place the sauce pan in the heat and bring to boil.

In the meantime, heat 2 tbsp of ghee in another pan, add the cashews, roast the cashews for about 1 min.

Keep the heat in medium and then add the rava, roast the rava in the ghee until it's very aromatic.

By the time the rava is well roasted, the water should also come to a boil. Add a few drops of food color(if you're using)  to the water and then pour the hot water into the rava(keep the rava at the lowest possible heat.). It splatter a lot, so be careful. 

Once all the water is poured, give a gentle mix and then cover it with a lid for about 2 mins.

Now, the rava would be  well cooked , add the cardamom powder(if you're using) and the remaining 1/2 tbsp ghee on the top. Switch off the flame and keep it covered for 2 mins.

Delicious Pineapple Kesari is ready to serve. 

Related: How to make Paal Kesari / Milk Kesari 

Notes

• It tastes great after a few hours of making so that the pineapple flavor is well infused in the kesari and give such a nice flavor and taste.
• Adding more sugar gives the glossy texture to the kesari. You can add up to 1 cup of sugar for 1/2 cup of rava. However i find that 3/4 cup of sugar is just enough sweetness without overpowering.

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Pineapple Raita, a delicious and quick to make raita from pineapple chunks. For past few months, ST has started to take curd as side for his lunch box daily, so instead of packing plain curd, sometimes i like to add some seasonal fruits which are available in my pantry at that time. Few are instant hit and like it so much like this pomegranate raita. 

Coming to this pineapple raita, when i had tried this raita for the first time, i packed it for lunch box after given a taste test which was actually really good. At lunch time, ST called me and told me that the raita was too bitter and asked me to discard the remaining.Even i had tasted, it was so bitter.

I was wondering why it turned out bitter after some time ? Then obviously i had searched on google and it says "Raw pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that breaks down the protein in your milk/milk product, making it bitter". So it's not advisable to keep pineapple and milk product together for  longer time. 

If you're making this, i would suggest to finish it off at once or if you're planning to have it later, to avoid the bitter taste, you can pre cook the pineapple and then add into the curd.  Otherwise it's such a delicious raita to finish off the meal, do give it a try and let me know how you like it. 

For the past few days, i have been listening to some of the videos from food blogger submit conference on various topics like SEO improvement, instagram engaging, how to make videos and the list goes on. After listening to all this, it was really overwhelming. 

With every inventions, there are equal amount of opportunities and challenges. If you want to excel in grabbing those opportunities, you have to face all the challenges first and over come it. Like Google search, it showcases your interest to the world(if you have page) whoever search on that particular topic, but in order to be on the top result, you need be a SEO expert first.

For me, there are days that i really want to make my page on that top list. And there are other days that i don't even care about a single thing about the blogging. So the really challenge is  always find balance between these two extreme ends and being consistent. 

Hope this is applicable to various life scenario not only blogging. But is that even possible all time? I don't know, guess even google can't answer 😜  Thanks for reading all the way to the end of my random thoughts scribbled. Now let's check out the recipe.

Pineapple Raita | Raita recipe

Preparation Time : 2 mins | Cooking Time : 0 mins | Serves : 1 
Recipe Category: Raita | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Pineapple raita, raita,yogurt,curd Pineapple Raita, a delicious and quick to make raita from pineapple chunks.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Curd - 1/4 cup
Pineapple - 1/4 cup(cubed)
Salt - a pinch
Paprika - 1/8 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1/8 tsp
Mint leaves - few

Procedure

Take the curd in a bow and whisk it smooth, cut the pineapples into small pieces.

Add the pineapples,salt,paprika,cumin powder into the curd and mix it all together.

Tasty Pineapple raita is ready. Add some mint leaves on top before serving.

Related : How to make Cucumber Raita

Notes:

• Use thick curd for better taste.
• I have used fresh pineapples, but you can use caned ones also
• For extra spice,instead of paprika, you can use red chili powder.
• Cumin powder for flavor, but it's optional.
• Keep it longer time make it bitter, so it's advisable to serve it immediately.
  

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Pineapple Rasam Without Dal | Pineapple rasam | Rasam Recipe

Pineapple rasam , a delicious and tangy rasam with wonderful pineapple flavor. Rasam is a integral part of south indian meal. But i have seen people running away from dinning table when they hear the word "Rasam" and also sarcastically claim rasam as visham (poison). 

For me, i love rasam like anything right from childhood, rice with rasam and thogayal is one of my favorite combo and love to have them any time now also. But so far, i stick with the my basic rasam recipe and very rarely give it a  try  on other varieties.

I have heard about this pineapple rasam a lot, hence i want to try this for a while, finally i have made it today. When i searched for pineapple rasam recipe online, all of them has dal in it, as i said earlier i like simple rasam without dal. 

Therefore i have used my rasam recipe as base and made this pineapple rasam without any dal, it turned out awesome, the flavor was so good and the mild sweetness from the pineapple really enhance the taste of rasam.  

Pineapple Rasam Without Dal | Pineapple rasam

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Rasam | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Pineapple Rasam, Rasam, Pineapple Rasam without dal, Pineapple rasam , a delicious and tangy rasam with wonderful pineapple flavor.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Pineapple - 2 rings

Tamarind - a small gooseberry size

Tomato - 1 (medium)

Curry leaves & coriander leaves - few

Salt - 1/2 tbsp(approx)

Ghee - 1/2 tsp

Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chili - 1 
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp

To grind

Pepper corns - 2 tsp

Cumin seed - 1 tsp

Garlic pods - 6-7

Procedure

Cut the pineapple and tomato into small pieces.

First grind the ingredients listed under "To grind" into coarse paste and keep it aside, in the same jar, add 1/2 of the pineapple and grind into coarse paste.

Next add 1/2 of tomato and grind into paste. 

Heat the kadai with ghee, add mustard,urad dal, curry leaves and red chili, let the mustard splutter, then add the pepper corn mixture, saute till it's aromatic.

Then add the chopped pineapple & tomato followed by pineapple and tomato puree.

Add 2 cups of water and the tamarind extract from the soaked tamarind. 

Add salt, turmeric powder and asafoetida powder into the rasam.

Bring into boil and finally add the chopped coriander leaves & switch off the flame.

Flavorful and tasty Pineapple rasam is ready.

Related : How to make Mysore rasam

Notes:

• Depend on the sourness of the pineapple, you may need more or less of tamarind.
• For extra flavor, add 1/2 tsp of ghee at the end.
  

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Pineapple Pulissery | Pineapple Pachadi | Pulissery Recipe

Pineapple Pulissery, a modern twist to the traditional pulissery. Pulissery, a delicious and creamy curd based curry from Kerala and it's made with both vegetables (like ash gourd, pumpkin) and fruits like( mango, pineapple). It's one of the common dish in Onam Sadya menu.

This can be prepared as curry or as a accompaniment based on the consistency. Today i have prepared as accompaniment for our meal, it tastes good with rice & any spicy curry. In our home ,we often prepare thadiyanakai kootu, this recipe sounds so similar to that, instead of ash gourd, pineapple is used in this recipe. 

Whenever i try any kerala recipe, it sounds so familiar to what we cook back in my home town,Tiruneveli, to be precisely saying, in our family, the cooking style  is so similar to what we call now as "Kerala cuisine" more than the "Tamil cuisine".  After all ,all this state partition happened after independence, but even before that people have their way of cooking, right?? With that thought, let's check out the pineapple pulissery recipe.   

Pineapple Pulissery | Pineapple Pachadi

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Pineapple Pulissery, Pineapple Pachadi,Kerala Pachadi Pineapple Pulissery, a modern twist to the traditional pulissery recipe.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Pineapple(chopped) - 1cup
Curd - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder  - 1/4 tsp
To Grind
Coconut - 2 tbsp
Green Chili - 1
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 1 pod
Pearl onion - 1 
To Temper
Coconut Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Pearl onion(sliced) -2 

Procedure

Cut the pineapple into small cubes, heat the kadai with 1/2 cup of water and add the pineapple. 

Once it comes to boil, keep the flame in low and let the pineapple cook. In the mean time, grind the ingredients listed under to "To Grind" into smooth paste.

Once the pineapple is almost cooked, add the coconut paste, turmeric powder and salt. Mix it well and let it cook completely. Beat the curd into smooth texture.

Keep the flame in low(if you're using electric stove/induction stove, switch off the flame, the residual heat in the stove is enough) and add the curd, give a quick mix and switch off the flame.  Keep the ingredients ready for tempering.

Heat the oil in kadai, temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper", saute until the onions become brown, switch off the flame and add into the pulissery.

Finger licking delicious Pineapple Pulissery is ready.

Related: How to make Pineapple Raita

Notes:

• Coconut oil gives great flavor to pulissery.
• While adding the curd, keep the flame in lowest possible to avoid the curdling.
• Adjust the consistency as per your liking.
  

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Pineapple Popsicle | Virgin Pina Colada Pops | Popsicle Recipe

Pineapple Popsicle / Virgin Pina colada Pops, an another quick to make popsicle with pineapple and coconut milk. Adding coconut milk in this recipe brings out the wonderful tropical flavor and also helps to reduce the prickly sensation in your mouth and throat after eating pineapple.

I know many people who avoid pineapple because of the itchy and prickly feeling that leaves in your tongue. So if you're one of them, try this pineapple pops, i'm sure you would love this pops without hurting your tongue much.
Related: How to make Coconut milk at home 

Coconut Milk 

For all kinds of pineapple drinks, popsicles and ice creams, coconut milk is extensively used for its tropical flavor. It's super refreshing and tastes delicious. So i highly recommend to use coconut milk in this recipe. 

Besides you can't use any dairy milk in this popsicle. Because "Raw pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that breaks down the protein in dairy milk/milk product, making it bitter when keep it for a longer time". 

Here in today's recipe, i have used the can coconut milk which tastes great. But in the past, i made this popsicle with fresh homemade coconut milk. So if you're interested in making this popsicle using fresh homemade coconut milk, go ahead and make sure to taste test for sweetness before freezing because fresh coconut milk usually has less sweet. 

Ok, now let's check out on how to make this delicious pineapple popsicle.

Pineapple Popsicle

Preparation Time : 6 hrs | Cooking Time : 0 mins | Makes : 6  
Recipe Category: Popsicle | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Pineapple Popsicle,Pineapple Pops,Virgin Pina Colada Pops Pineapple Popsicle / Virgin Pina colada Pops, an another quick to make popsicle with pineapple and coconut milk.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Pineapple - 2 cups
Sugar - as needed
Coconut milk - 1 cup

Procedure

Peel the skin and cut the pineapple into small chunks, put it in mixie/blender jar and grind into smooth puree.

Add coconut milk and sugar into it and grind again until all blends well together.

Filter the pineapple puree and discard the fiber. Now your virgin Pina colada is ready.

Pour this into the popsicle mould and freeze it for minimum 6 hrs.

Tada, your Pineapple popsicle is ready.

Related: More summer drinks and popsicles

Related: Strawberry Lemonade

Notes:

• Depends on the sweetness of pineapple, you may need more or less sugar.
• Don't have popsicle mould, then pour it in small plastic cups or tumblers and insert the ice stick and freeze
• To remove the popsicle from mould, run water hot water for 10-15 sec and take it out,it will come out easily.
  

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