Sheera Sooji halwa Recipe
Cream of Wheat | Semolina Pudding Recipe
This Sheera Sooji halwa Recipe is a popular sweet dish in India. It is made all over India. In the south Indian as well as North Indian states.
Sooji ka halwa is made for breakfast or as a snack or as a side dish with a main meal. Sheera is also made as naivedya for offering to a deity at the time of pooja.
In Maharashtra and Karnataka, it is distributed to the devotees as a ‘Satyanarayana Prasad’, after the Satyanarayana Pooja. At that time Banana is also added to this ‘prasadacha sheera’. When made for prasad, the ingredients are used in a certain proportion.
How to Make Sheera – Sooji ka halwa?
Ingredients for making Sheera – Sooji halwa – Shira
- Semolina (sooji / rava / cream of wheat) – 1 cup
- Sugar – 3/4 cup or a little more.
- Water + milk – 2 to 2 1/2 cups
- Ghee – 1/4 cup to 3/4 cup
- Cashew nuts – 4-5 chopped finely
- Raisins – 10
- Cardamom powder – 1 1/2 teaspoon.
Cooking method to make sooji ka halwa:
- Add sugar to a pot.
- Add water to sugar. Heat it on medium flame till sugar dissolves. Here we are just melting the sugar in water.
- Add milk to to the water/sugar mixture.
- Heat a deep thick bottomed pan. Add rava/suji/semolina. Dry roast rava on low flame for 4-5 minutes.
- Add ghee to semolina and roast some more.
- Roast till semolina starts giving a nice roasted aroma. It will take about 7-8 minutes. But do not let it become brown.
- Add the dissolved water/sugar/milk mix. Rava will immediately start absorbing the liquid and to fluff up.
- Stir well and let cook covered on low fire for a few minutes.
- Remove lid mix well and let cook some more till all the liquid is absorbed in the rava.
- Add some more ghee and saffron soaked milk or the food colored milk. Mix well and cook for a minute.
- In a pan add some ghee and cashew pieces. Fry till cashews are golden. Take off the stove.
- Add roasted cashew nuts, cardamom powder. Mix well. Switch off and keep covered till serving time.
Sooji Halva is ready to serve.
Tips:
- Add banana, mango, apple or pineapple as a variation. If using fresh fruit or canned one, add it in the end after you take sheera off fire. Mix well.
- You may omit the cardamom powder when you add fruit if you wish but you don’t have to.
- Add milk instead of water if you wish. Or you can use half milk and half water. Milk makes it more tasty and rich.
- If you are a vegan, use only water. Instead of ghee, use coconut oil.
- To reduce time, heat water while you are roasting rava/semolina and add this hot water to roasted. Cooking will be done fast.
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