Calories in Kesari Bath

Kesari bath is rava roasted in ghee, cooked in water and sweetened heavily, with saffron or colour and fried cashews. The recipe behind the figure uses 167 g of suji, 200 g of sugar, 120 ml of ghee and 33 g of cashews and divides the result into 6 portions. The source does not say how large its bowl is, so a serving here is one of those 6 portions: 28 g of suji, 33 g of sugar, 20 ml of ghee and 5.5 g of cashews. Note that it holds more sugar than rava by weight. At 432 kcal it is the heaviest of the 20 sweets in the set, ahead of suji halwa at 360 kcal.

Carbohydrate supplies 51% of the energy, fat 46% and protein 4%. The carbohydrate is led by sugar, 35.6 g of sugars in a portion, with the rava behind it. The fat is ghee, plus a little from the cashews, 22.2 g in all. There is only 4.2 g of protein. Kesari bath and suji halwa are close relatives; this recipe comes out heavier because each portion has more sugar and a few cashews for a similar amount of rava and ghee.

A full portion is about 20% of a sedentary man's daily energy requirement and 26% of a woman's, more than any other sweet in this set, and two portions reach 864 kcal. It offers 4.2 g of protein and 2.9 g of fibre, so almost all of it is sugar, starch and ghee. At breakfast it is normally paired with upma as chow chow bath, and in that plate a small scoop is the sensible share. Half a portion, about 216 kcal, is still more than a whole besan ladoo or a piece of milk barfi in the same set.

A full portion has 35.6 g of sugars and 22.2 g of fat, the fat being nearly all ghee, and both figures are among the highest in the set. Because kesari bath is often eaten at breakfast, that sugar and fat arrive at the start of the day, alongside sweetened coffee or tea. People with diabetes, or anyone told to limit saturated fat for a heart condition, should ask their doctor or dietitian about it; a taste from a shared plate is very different from a bowl.