Sooji Halwa(Sheera/Sanja)
I think this is a universal sweet. Everybody likes one or the other version of it.
Namewise, its called as Sheera/Sanja (Konkani), Kesari Baath (in Bangalore-Kannada, it should be bhath, not Baath though. I wonder why it is called ‘bhath’ because as far as I know ‘bhath’ means rice) and Sooji Halwa.
Recently we went out for lunch at ‘Ruchi Indian Restaurant‘ here in Overland park, KS, and I simply loved the food. Then they had this ‘Sooji Halwa’, which had the great aroma of ghee. I couldn’t eat it there because I was already full. So the next day I prepared our own ‘Sheera’. It came out great (except the aroma, because I had used ‘Crisco Shortening‘ instead of ‘ghee’), but still the taste was great.
Ingredients:
Wheat sooji (wheat rava) 1 cup
Sugar 3/4 cup
Ghee 1 tbl spn
Cloves 2-3
Raisins(Dried grapes) & Cashews 1 tea spn
Milk 1/2 cup
Water 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder 1/2 tea spn
Saffron(optional) a pinch
Method:
Heat ghee and add cloves, cashews and raisins, fry for sometime. Add wheat sooji and fry on low flame till the nice aroma comes out. Add sugar, milk and water(add the saffron dissolved in water). Close and cook till water is absorbed. Add cardamom powder and mix well. Serve hot.
Serves : 2
Preparation time : 10min
Amazing recipe again. Reminds me of my childhood.
One suggestion. The template is beautiful but I somehow see some, you know, ununiformity or unoptimized.. the text layout, the side bar text I don’t know… just a friendly pointing out.. maybe you can separate the body and the sidebar…. may increasing the padding or, putting the side bar in a box??
I loved your 3 column layout in the blogger template…
Tony, Thanks a lot for that suggestion. I will see how to make it more optimized. Even I feel I should have had the 3 column layout
.
Hello Shilpa,
I just tried the sheera out. Staying away from mom , reminds me of mom making sheera and puri (thick). It was an amazing combination. Looked through your reciepe and its turned out amazing ! . Thanks a lot
hi shilpa,
thank you…finally i’m getting some confidence to prepare sweets… sheera turned out to be amazing same like my mom prepares…thank you once again…
Hey Shilpa,
Really nice looking Sheera!!
I am frequent reader of your blog and big fan of yours simple and yummy recipes
After reading about ‘Ruchi’, I thought you must be staying in Overland Park and I couldn’t believe that the person whom I am reading, following is so near to me( Me too staying in Overland Park). I felt really excited
Hi, I love sheera, making it and eating it. But I have a problem when it comes to preparing it. It doesn’t come out soft and fluffy as in the restaurants or even as in the picture above. I add the same ingredients as suggested by you. Can u help me with this?
Shilpa: Roast the sooji(rava) well and it will come out fine.
hi ur receipe for sheera was delicious. my husband loved it when i made it during ganesh festival. it turned out just right. not too very sweet as well. but what i did was poured a little more milk than suggested since my husband like it that way. keep up the good work
Hi shilpa,
Other day i tried yr potato paratha recipe and i was quite happy with it. Today i thought let me check sheera recipe and i felt it should be good. Anyway i shall try and let u know soon how it came out. thanks.
Hey Shilpa, Thanks for the sheera recipe. I’m not to big on Sweets so am making it for my brother today. It’s hard to belive that there are so many konkani’s in the midwest region & I never ran into anyone….hmmm what’s up with that?
Sapna
hi shilpa,
i refer ur site wenever i need a recipe. thanx for being wid me
but i wud love to make this dish for him.. kindly help me if u understand wat this dish is..
my husband has a sweet tooth n i m happy u have so many recipes. with ref to this sheera dish : my hubby always talks abt a sweet dish to go along wid puri which is made up of sooji n bit of dal!!!! as i m not manglorean or konkani i have no idea wat this dish is..
Shilpa: Do you know the name of the dish?
hi shilpa,
it shud be manglroean dish/GSB dish..
thats the problem..! he doesnt know the name.. he says sweet khicdi.. i googled a lot abt it.. but none of them match his explanation
It is called Sheera in Marathi too.
Thanks for the recipe.
The recipe is very articulate and up to the point ,i liked it,its really good !!!
Hi,
Love your website.
Just wanted to point out that ‘Sanja’ in marathi refers to a savory version ,similar to upma. Sheera is sheera in Marathi.
Hey shilpa….
I tried the receipe of sheera many times but always fail to do so…when i make it i can actully see the rava grains…they dont bloat up like u get them in pujas or outside….what am i doin wrong? my parents love sheera but my attempts have so far alwys failed….
Shilpa,
Is this the new look of Aayis recipes? I think it looks too plain and boring.(because it’s all white) It was so much better before.I guess you are still working on the template and I hope this isn’t the final one.I follow this blog closely , so thought I will let you know what I felt.
I tried sajjige (sooji halwa) yesterday. Somehow didn’t get it right. I fried rava on low heat for about 10 mins .. the rava didn’t change color but had a nice aroma.I added 1 cup cold milk as I only had 1% milk. It was still in liquid state after 10 mins, so i put on medium flame and stirred until it dried.The end result was HARD texture. I know I am doing something wrong .. is it the milk? How do I get the right consisency? Also do you have the recipe where they add banana to sajjige.. this is usually served in temples in mlore.Please let me know.thanks!
yes, this is the final look of the template. We had some technical issues with old template, so we are going with something very simple.
Hey thanks a lot for this recipe .. I am studying in North Carolina since and I always thought of sheera as a time consuming recipe . Had no idea it took just 10 min !! Ever since I saw this recipe it has replaced my breakfast of instant noodles atleast once a week .. And yes , the recipe is perfect
Don’t we have to warm the milk and water before adding it to the rava? I thought we get lumps in the sheera if we don’t warm the water/milk.
I don’t warm milk for sheera.
Thanks for the recipe.
As some people have already mentioned —we maharashtrians also call this dish ” sheera “,sanja is the name for the spicy version–like upma.