Sooji Halwa/ Sheera is a very popular Indian dessert. Fine Semolina is roasted in ghee and then sugar ,water and milk is added and cooked till it thickens. You can add your favourite dry fruits in it i.e cashew,almonds,raisins . Cardamom powder and saffron is added for flavour.
Though making sooji halwa is quite easy but the ratio of sooji ,water and sugar has to be perfect else it will not taste good. The perfect roasting of semolina on low heat is also very important. The roasting time depends on individual choice, as some prefer a very light colour sooji halwa and some prefer to roast it to a nice golden colour like I do.
Ingredients1 cup Semolina / Sooji
1/2 cup Ghee / clarified butter
1/2 cup Milk Powder optional
1 cup Sugar / Chini
4 tbsp Cashew/ Kaju chopped
3 tbsp Raisins/ Kishmish
1/2 tsp Cardamom/ Elaichi
Pinch Saffron/Kesar
Method* Heat ghee in pan and add the cashew pieces and roast till they start changing colour, take out and keep aside.
* Now add semolina /sooji in the pan and roast on low heat to a nice golden brown colour (colour of the almond )
* Now switch of the flame and add the raisins in it and stir.
* Let the sooji mix cool down completely, grind the sugar and make a fine powder (You can adjust the quantity of sugar as per your taste preference, instead of 1 cup sugar you can add 3/4 cup to 1.25 cup ).
* Add the roasted cashew pieces, the powdered sugar, milk powder, crushed saffron and the cardamom powder in the roasted semolina and mix well.
* Store the sooji halwa mix in an airtight jar.
* When you want to use add water and microwave or cook on gas stove
* Take a big glass bowl. add instant halwa mix in it and add 1.5 times water to the instant mix(i.e if you take 1/2 cup mix then add 3/4 cup water ) stir it after adding water and micro high for 2 minutes, take out and stir again,now again micro for 2 minutes.
* Take out and stir and micro for 1 minutes . let it stand for 1 minutes then take out and enjoy!
* The cooking time may vary according to the watts of each microwave so you may have to cook it for less or more time.
* Addition of milk powder is optional.if not using Milk powder then slightly reduce the quantity of sugar.