‘Sheera‘ is a traditional Maharashtrian sweet dish prepared using semolina (also known as rawa or suji). In my part of country – Maharashtra, it is known as ‘God Sheera‘ but also called as ‘Suji ka Halwa‘ in other states. This is simple yet flavourful and indulgent recipe; prepared for festivals, special occasions or as offering to god on an auspicious day. Sheera is sweet and creamy pudding made with simple ingredients like semolina, sugar, milk and ghee (clarified butter). For richness and aroma; cardamom powder, saffron and dry fruits are also used in the recipe.

My family loves this classic recipe and we often make it for breakfast or as evening snacks. Warm bowl of sheera goes very well with hot cup of tea. Recipe is straightforward with just single key step – semolina roasting . Semolina needs to be roasted patiently until it is fragrant and slightly puffed up (and of course without burning). Rest of the recipe is as simple as piece of cake 😜. I always keep roasted semolina handy, which makes life easy and sheera can be ready in no time 😉.

While, I am sharing my recipe of Sheera, it might vary from region to region. So, without further ado let’s jump to step by step recipe. Also, recipe can be modified to make vegan friendly; use oil instead of ghee and almond milk as milk substitute.

Ingredients:

1 cup semolina (rawa or suji)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter)

2 & 1/2 cup water

1 cup milk

1-2 tsp cardamom powder

Few saffron strands

Handful of raisins

Slivered almonds

Method:

Take a deep thick bottom pan over high heat and add ghee into the pan.

Once ghee is hot and melted, add semolina into it.

Turn heat to medium-low and roast semolina while stirring continuously. This is an important step and need to roast semolina patiently until it turns aromatic.

Keep heat onto low and stir it continuously. Do not allow to burn it.

When semolina is roasted properly, it will slightly changes the colour and turns aromatic.

(Tip – I have used coarse semolina here, it gives wonderful texture to sheera)

Meanwhile, mix water and milk together in a separate saucepan. Boil this mixture on a high heat.

Keep dry fruits ready, I have used raisins and chopped almonds.

Add saffron strands into hot milk, by doing so we can get maximum flavour of saffron.

Once semolina is almost ready, add chopped almonds and raisins into it.

Roast raisins and almonds along with semolina.

Once everything is roasted thoroughly, add hot boiling mixture of milk and water into pan. (Be careful while doing this as milk mixture is boiling hot. You might want to turn off the heat, just for few seconds.)

When milk mixture is added, turn heat to low. Gently mix everything together.

Semolina will absorb the milk mixture and starts thickening.

Simmer it on low heat for another 4-5 minutes. Add saffron milk into the pan.

Semolina will absorb goodness of milk and starts releasing from sides of pan.

Cover with lid and simmer it another 3-4 minutes.

Now, add cardamom powder and sugar into the pan. As sugar starts melting, it will soften the semolina.

Mix everything together, cover with lid and simmer for 5 minutes.

(Tip – Do not add sugar at the beginning, as sugar will stop cooking process for semolina. Add sugar only when semolina absorbs milk mixture and thickens.)

‘God Sheera’ or ‘Suji ka Halwa’ is ready to serve with some silvered almonds over the top !!

Few more tips – I always prefer to use mixture of milk and water (instead simply either of them) as it gives wonderful taste. Also proportion for semolina to milk mixture is 1:3.5 for nice creamy texture. I like mild sweetness, so I have used 3/4 cup of sugar but feel free to use equal sugar as semolina.

Isn’t it easy-peasy recipe? I hope you enjoyed reading this post and would love to give it a try.

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