Sheera - Suji Ka Halwa
Sheera is a sweet, delicious, and easy traditional Maharashtrian dish. It is made with semolina, ghee, milk, sugar, cardamom, and saffron.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Semolina coarse, 200 grams
- 1/4 cup Ghee thick, 50 grams
- 1 cup Whole milk
- 2 cups Water *see notes
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 6 pods Cardamom freshly ground
- 8-10 Saffron strands
- 1 pinch Salt
- 6-7 Cashew nuts halved
- 4-5 Almonds chopped
- 6-7 Pistachios chopped
- 12-15 Golden raisins
Instructions
- In a pan, on medium low heat, melt some ghee, add semolina, and mix it well.
- Roast the semolina with ghee for about 20-22 minutes, or until it turns light brown in color, on medium low heat.
- Meanwhile, in another pot, mix milk and 2 cups of water together. Let it boil, add a few strands of saffron, and switch off the heat.
- Once the semolina is roasted perfectly and aromatic, lower the heat, add a mixture of milk little at a time, stir the semolina in between without forming any lumps. Add the rest of the milk mixture and mix it well.
- Cover the pan with a lid, increase the heat to medium low, and cook the sheera for 3-4 minutes. You will find all the liquid is absorbed.
- Remove the lid, add sugar, mix it well, cover the pan, and cook it for 5 minutes.
- Now add freshly ground cardamom, nuts, raisins, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp ghee, and mix everything well. Cover it, let it cook on a low heat for another 3-4 minutes, and serve.
Notes
- Roasting the semolina with some ghee on a medium low heat for between 20-22 minutes is very important to make a perfectly tasting sheera.
- When you add boiled milk and water mixture, make sure to lower the heat. It will splutter everywhere so add it gradually and stir the semolina in between. Don’t add all the liquid at once.
- Adding a pinch of salt gives an amazing taste to the dish so you will not need to add more sugar in the recipe.
- Freshly ground cardamom in a pestle and mortar gives an amazing aroma to the dish.
- Adding the ghee at the end gives so much flavor and shine to the sheera.
- Whole milk gives a rich taste to the dish. You can completely skip adding the milk or add 2% milk in the recipe.
- If you take one cup of semolina, take 1 cup milk, 1 cup water, and add 1 more cup of water in the mixture before boiling it. But if you take 2 cups of semolina, you should take 2 cups of milk, 2 cups of water, and 1 cup of extra water.