Being born and brough up in Tamil Nadu ‘Kesari’ is the most common sweet that is prepared using Rava/Semolina. Amma never made Sooji Halwa at home. Since early 2010 I started doing Thrusday Pooja for Shirdi Sai and every week I used to prepare Kheer, Sweets as Neivedhyam. I end my day’s fast with that sweet. This warm Sooji Halwa has become my favorite ever since.
Though am not fasting regularly these days, every year during his Mahasamadhi day I prepare this Halwa as an offering for Him. There are some dishes you have so many memories with them. For me I associate Sheera with my Thursday Poojai, the smell of incense sticks, Baba & my pooja space in Chennai decorated with flowers 🙂
I have made Sheera with Banana as seen in the pic below. The consistency will be slightly slimy compared to the one prepared with jaggery or sugar. You need to just mash & add one banana once Rava is cooked. Along with it add milk, sugar, cardamom powder and a pinch of saffron or turmeric for the color. Shall share a detailed recipe with pictures sometime soon.
You can make Sooji Halwa with just Semolina, Milk & Sugar. During Ashtami many prepare this Halwa as Prashad along with Poori.
I have also shared some simple sweet recipes in the blog that you can prepare this Diwali. Sharing the links for some of those recipes below
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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- 1/2 cup Rava/Semolina
- 1.5 cups water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup Jaggery Powder
- 4 tablespoon ghee
- 2 teaspoon Cardamom Powder
- 5 Cashewnuts
- 5 Pistachios
- 5 Almonds
Ingredients
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- Heat 2 teaspoon of ghee in a pan. Roast cashewnuts pieces and keep it aside
- In the same pan add Semolina and roast it in a medium heat until it becomes slightly golden brown color
- At this stage add approximately 1.5 cups of water
- I usually boil water in kettle and add it to the pan
- If you don't have kettle then boil water separately and then add the hot water to roasted Semolina
- Keep on stirring until the Semolina is completely cooked
- Add milk, jaggery powder, cardamom powder and a tablespoon of ghee. Continue Stirring
- Add one more tablespoon of ghee and keep stirring until you see the slight change in texture. Adding ghee ensures the Halwa doesn't become hard even after hours of preparing it. So be generous with the amount of ghee added
- After nearly 10 minutes remove Sooji Halwa from the pan
- Garnish with chopped Almonds, Pistachios and Cashewnuts