Recipe- Make Your Day Special With Sooji Chocolate Halwa

As a child, whenever I told mom that I wanted to eat something sweet, she almost always gave me two options – sooji halwa and aata halwa. I’m sure this is a common things in many Indian household, just because these halwas take very little time to cook and are yet delicious to eat.

Sooji halwa is like a pudding and is made using 4 basic ingredients: semolina (which is called sooji in hindi), clarified butter (ghee), sugar and water. Rest of the ingredients like cardamom, saffron, nuts etc. are optional. So the other day while making sooji halwa at home, I thought of giving it a twist and since I’m so fond of chocolates it was the first thing that came to my mind.

Ingredients

1/2 cup semolina [sooji]
3-4 tablespoons ghee
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1.25 cups water
3-4 saffron strands optional
sliced almonds for garnishing
chocolate chips for garnishing

Method

* In a pan, put water to boil. Once it comes to a boil switch off the flame.

* Put a wok or kadhai on medium heat, add the ghee and let it melt.

* Once the ghee melts, add cardamom powder and saffron strands into it.

* Add sooji (semolina) and roast till it starts giving a nice aroma and the color changes to light golden brown.

* Add the cocoa powder once the sooji is roasted.

* Now add in the water slowly.

* Keep stirring the halwa and add sugar to it.

* Once the sugar mixes completely, cover the pan and let the halwa simmer for 2