Sheera / Sooji halwa with banana
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If I am in a mood for a quick dessert or a good heavy breakfast, Sheera or Sooji halwa is my food of choice. Sheera is often served as breakfast, dessert and very often as an offering to god. You can pair with poori to make a mouthwatering dish – poori halwa. Though it is relatively easy to make, it took me a while to get it right..I couldn’t get the texture right.. the sooji would be too raw or soggy…Sheera can be made with 4 basic ingredients – sooji/semolina, sugar, water, and ghee. The other optional ingredients that are can be added are ground cardamom, a pinch of saffron, cashews, and raisins roasted in ghee. I went a little further and added banana..not that it is uncommon to add a banana or even pineapple for that matter. Once you get the basics down you can always play around with the ingredients. I used part brown cane sugar so that the Sheera gets a nice brown color but you can certainly use sugar instead.
Servings: 4
Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/4 of a recipe (4.8 ounces).
PER SERVING: 425.65 calories; Calories from Fat: 115.75g; Total Fat: 13.17g; Saturated Fat: 8.07g; Cholesterol: 33.01mg; Sodium: 12.93mg; Potassium: 159.22mg; Total Carbs: 72.55g; Fiber: 1.82g; Sugar: 40.92g;Protein: 5.46g
Ingredients
- 1 cup semolina/sooji (fine)
- 1/4 cup ghee
- 1/2 banana, chopped into small pieces [optional]
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 cup brown cane sugar or sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, and raisins) roasted in a teaspoon of ghee [optional]
Process
- If you are planning to include nuts, quickly roast them in ghee for 30 seconds and then add sooji to it. If not, skip to step 2.
- Dry roast sooji on medium heat in a medium sized wok till a strong aroma emanates from it. It will roughly take around 8 – 10 minutes. [ Make sure you are constantly stirring it]. Simultaneously keep water to boil in a small cup.
- Add ghee and banana (if using) and continue roasting for another 2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low and add boiling water. [ Be careful the mixture might start to splutter, step back if needed till the spluttering stops]
- Mix well till the water gets absorbed in the mixture. [ Make sure you measure the water and do not add more than 1/2 a cup to prevent it from being soggy]
- Add sugar and mix well.
- Add cardamom (if using) and mix well.
- Serve hot.