Rose Petals Beetroot Semolina Cakes (Valentine’s Day Recipe)

Rose Petals Beetroot Semolina Cake (Indian Semolina Cakes)

One day to Valentine’s Day!!! Love is in the air…so why not in the food too . With the start of February month, we see red/pink all over, gifts shops loaded with stuff toys, special lunch and dinner offers by hotels & restaurant’s, soft little red color hearts, florists busy with beautiful flower arrangements and lots of red roses etc (after all it’s time for them to make some money too) .

In the west, Valentine’s Day is celebrated by giving flowers, candy and cards to all those we love. This is done to honor Saint Valentine, he was a priest who served during third century Rome.

For me Love means that the basics of any relationship should be real strong, an understanding for all the said and unsaid things is the key…Though we are little different and not among those many couples who really go ahead and celebrate the Valentine’s day with a lot of enthusiasm because we believe that every day should be a valentine’s day in a relationship and to make that happen it mutually requires a lots of effort for a healthy relationship.

In fact for me it is a day where we have a wonderful opportunity to show appreciation for people we love by giving gifts of Kindness, Empathy, Time, Thoughtfulness, Personal Space, Understanding and Respect.

The people we need the most in life are the ones we take for granted too often by not expressing our feelings, what I feel is not just this day but throughout the year we should try to be nice, kind and loving in our day-to-day living, of course it requires efforts because after all we are all human’s and tend to forget the basics due to our hectic schedules and commitments.

To celebrate the understanding and love of togetherness, I have something for my readers too…!!!

From few years we have seen a lot of activities happening in India too on this special day so I felt like giving this special celebration an Indian touch with my Rose Petals Beetroot Semolina Cakes….hoping you will like them!

So Here I go ……

Ingredients -

• Rava(Semolina) - 1 cup
• Sugar - 1.5 cups
• Water - 3 cups
• Rose Petals - 1 rose (medium size)
• Beetroot grated juice - 2 tablespoons
• Pistachios - 8 -10 finely slices
• Cardamom Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Ghee - 2 tablespoons
• Rose Water - 2 -3 drops
• Saffron strands for garnishing

Method -

Step by step pictures for clear understanding!!

First sieve the rava in a plate and grate the beetroot for preparing the beetroot juice. Roughly chop the rose petals too and keep aside.

Take a non stick kadai, add ghee and rava (Semolina) and stir for few seconds, we do not have to change the color of Rava for this dish to even light brown because our final dish has to be Pink in color. After few seconds add water and mix well, let it simmer on low flame for about 5 - 7 minutes.

Now add sugar and let it mix into the kadai nicely. After 2 -3 minutes start adding slowly the beetroot juice. The beetroot juice needs to be added carefully, keep mixing.

We need to stop adding the juice once we get our perfect PINK else the color will go a shade darker and we do not want this to happen. I have deliberately added beetroot juice to this dessert because I wanted to avoid any artificial color to it.

Keep mixing, remember the cooking has to be on low flame. Once you get mera wala pink …STOP!!!!! Now add the chopped rose petals, rose-water to it and mix slowly,switch off the flame as we do not wish to over cook the rose petals else it will lose its flavor, color and aroma.

Finally you will get a thick texture, it has to be little more than the normal halwa or rava kesari we cook. This is because we plan to spread it onto the plate and make cakes out of it.

When the mixture gets thicken only then we need to add the rose petals. Pour the mixture onto a greased plate. Spread it evenly by gently tapping the plate on your slab and with the help of a spatula spread it neatly. Sprinkle some cardamom powder over it.

Keep the plate aside for about 35 -40 minutes in total, once the mixture is little cooled, keep the plate uncovered in the fridge (not the freezer) for about 15 -20 minutes. Do not cut them into pieces before you see it’s fully set, take another plate and do an upside down with the second plate. You will see the nice big semolina cake ready…cut it with the help of a heart shape cutlet cutter (with cookie cutter you will get small cakes).

Beautiful Pink Indian Hearts!!

Garnish with saffron strands, chopped pistachios and serve as a sweet dish to your loved ones. This can be served cold but if you wish little warm then suggest microwave it for few seconds before serving.

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