Semolina Birthday Breakfast Pudding

Semolina spells comfort and sustenance to some and the horrors of enforced childhood eating to others. To Parsis the word rava means both this rich pudding garnished with nuts and raisins and the semolina from which it’s made. I sometimes lighten it with whipped cream for a festive dessert, to be served with a fruit compote befitting the season: strawberries in spring, mangoes or peaches in summer, apples and prunes in the fall, and grapes and grappa-soaked raisins in winter.