Rava Sheera | Sooji Ka Halwa

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This Rava Sheera aka Sooji ka halwa (Indian Semolina pudding) is a quick fix, delicious and wholesome treat! Semolina is known as Rava or sooji and halwa is pudding. It is prepared with semolina, ghee, milk, sugar and flavored with cardamom powder and saffron. Enjoy it warm along with some hot chai or coffee for breakfast or as a snack!

This rava sheera | sooji ka halwa | semolina pudding is prepared differently throughout India and is also known by different names. For example, sheera in Maharashtra, sooji ka halwa in North India, xiro (pronounced Sheero) in Goa, and kesari in southern Indian states to name a few! The only difference is in the quantities of ingredients, some of them don’t use milk and are made entirely with water. Ghee is an important ingredient and a must in all! No matter how they are prepared, it is equally delicious and satisfying!

People enjoy this pudding for breakfast in Maharashtra and southern India. It is also prepared on auspicious days in India!

This semolina pudding is truly rich, and taste divine with that strong aromatic flavor of ghee (clarified butter) and the richness of milk shining through. The exotic flavors, the aroma of saffron and cardamom add another layer of goodness to this humble dish making it quite addictive.

I like to prepare this sooji ka halwa with milk and a little water. It makes this pudding more wholesome and tastier. Everyone has their own preference, but this is the way I always make it!

Ghee is the heart and soul of this semolina pudding. The aroma of semolina roasting in ghee is so fragrant and divine!

Ghee is an integral part of Indian cuisine! It has a high smoke point, make it ideal for deep-frying, sautéing or even baking. It is also lactose and casein free, loaded with fat-soluble vitamins and has a strong buttery flavor adding a distinctive taste to any dish, that cannot be missed!

• To make this rava sheera | semolina pudding you will require just 5 ingredients
• Step by step instructions to make rava sheera
• HOW TO MAKE RAVA SHEERA?
• Rava Sheera | Sooji Ka Halwa | Indian Semolina Pudding

To make this rava sheera | semolina pudding you will require just 5 ingredients

• Semolina
• Ghee
• Sugar
• Water
• Milk
• A mix of dried fruits

This will store well in the refrigerator for up to a week. Also due to the sugar content, it does not spoil easily.

I like to make a big batch and store some in the refrigerator to enjoy later for a quick snack. Moreover, my kids absolutely love this pudding which is why I make it at least once a week.

I believe food connects us to our memories. Rava sheera is one that always makes me nostalgic every time I eat it. It sends me down memory lane when I would return from school to find some sheera kept ready for me by my Grandma. And it was always presented to me in a fancy shape!

Did you know the month of June celebrates dairy products and dairy farmers?

From the time I’ve stopped breastfeeding my kids, they transitioned and took to cow’s milk pretty smoothly. My son loves his glass of milk and will not go a day without it. His day begins with milk for breakfast and ends with it at night. Four years now and he proudly shows off his mustache each time he finishes off the glass of milk.

Knowingly or unknowingly, the first food of our lives; the start of our day; even the end of an Indian meal happens with a dairy product. I was fed all kinds of dairy products as a child by my grandparents, and I believe grandparents are never wrong.

I love using dairy in all forms, from butter/ghee to yogurt to cheese to milk as they are simple, delicious, nutrient-rich ingredients. Dairy is the milk of choice in our cereal, the yogurt in our morning smoothies or layered granola parfaits or the yogurt used to make other savory breakfast dishes. Even the cheese on our pizza or the milk that goes into that comforting mug of hot chocolate or coffee and our much needed evening chai !

97% dairy farms are family-owned and your dairy is probably sourced from a farm near your neighborhood. The dairy industry uses innovative and safe technology to provide us with better, fresher product along with exceptional animal care and sustainable nutrition.

Dairy foods are a powerhouse of nutrients, packed with carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Also, it is budget friendly, comes in many varieties and there is something to satisfy everyone’s taste. You can easily find them down the dairy aisle of your grocery store.

Have you tried pronouncing the ingredients on the cartons of other dairy alternatives, some of which may have up to 10 ingredients, which is not the case with real cow’s milk. It contains more naturally-occurring nutrients and only three ingredients- milk, vitamin D, and vitamin A. We all love to eat well, so why not add two or three daily servings of low-fat and fat-free dairy foods like milk, cheese, and yogurt to your diet?

I hope you will try this delicious Indian semolina pudding soon and love it as much as we do 🙂

Ingredients

1/2 cup coarse rava / sooji (semolina)

1/4 cup ghee

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1 cup lukewarm milk

2 tbsp slivered almonds

2 tbsp raisins

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

About 30 strands of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp hot water

!For garnish (optional)

dried rose petals, as required

slivered pistachios, as required

Step by step instructions to make rava sheera

1.Dry roast the semolina in a heavy bottomed pan over medium-low heat until it turns crisp, fragrant and golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plate and set aside.

2.Wipe the same pan with a clean kitchen napkin and add ghee, once it melts, add slivered almonds. When the almonds turn light brown, add the raisins, cook until the raisins turn plump and swell up.

3.Add the roasted semolina, cook for another 1-2 minutes, until you see some ghee being released from the semolina.

4.Add the milk and water along with saffron extract, and stir continuously as you pour the liquid to avoid any lump formation. Cook for another 2 minutes until the semolina absorbs all the liquid.

5.Add the sugar and give everything a quick stir. The sugar will melt and leave water. Keep stirring until the mixture begins to thicken.

6.Add cardamom powder, and mix well. The sheera/pudding is ready once the mixture comes together and ghee oozes from the sides of the pan. Serve warm garnished with additional dried fruits if desired. You can present this in two ways, either use a fancy mold or a plain bowl, fill the pudding, press it to make it compact, then invert it in the serving plate. Or simply serve it directly in a bowl as shown below.

NOTES

1.Store leftovers in the refrigerator. It will keep well for up to a week. Reheat in the microwave before serving.

2.You can increase the sugar to 1/2 cup if you prefer a sweeter rava sheera | semolina pudding. This is the perfect amount of sweetness for us.

HOW TO MAKE RAVA SHEERA?

Rava Sheera | Sooji Ka Halwa | Indian Semolina Pudding

Ingredients1x2x3x

Measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml

• 1/2 cup coarse rava / sooji semolina
• 1/4 cup ghee
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup lukewarm milk
• 2 tbsp slivered almonds
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• About 30 strands of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp hot water

For garnish (optional)

• dried rose petals, as required
• slivered pistachios, as required

Instructions

• Dry roast the semolina in a heavy bottomed pan over medium-low heat until it turns crisp, fragrant and golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plate and set aside.
• Wipe the same pan with a clean kitchen napkin and add ghee, once it melts, add slivered almonds. When the almonds turn light brown, add the raisins, cook until the raisins turn plump and swell up.
• Add the roasted semolina, cook for another 1-2 minutes, until you see some ghee being released from the semolina.
• Add the milk and water along with saffron extract, and stir continuously as you pour the liquid to avoid any lump formation. Cook for another 2 minutes until the semolina absorbs all the liquid.
• Add the sugar and give everything a quick stir. The sugar will melt and leave water. Keep stirring until the mixture begins to thicken.
• Add cardamom powder, and mix well. The sheera/pudding is ready once the mixture comes together and ghee oozes from the sides of the pan. Serve warm garnished with additional dried fruits if desired. You can present this in two ways, either use a fancy mold or a plain bowl, fill the pudding, press it to make it compact, then invert it in the serving plate. Or simply serve it directly in a bowl.

Notes

• Store leftovers in the refrigerator. It will keep well for up to a week. Reheat in the microwave before serving.
• You can increase the sugar to 1/2 cup if you prefer a sweeter rava sheera | semolina pudding. This is the perfect amount of sweetness for us.

What are some of your favorite dairy foods?

I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to share your feedback with photos and suggestions to me at aromaticessence77@gmail.com

You can also follow me on :

Facebook @ Aromaticessence

Pinterest @ Aromatic Essence

Instagram @ aromatic_essence77

Twitter @ freda_dias

Regards,

Freda

Rava Sheera | Sooji Ka Halwa | Indian Semolina Pudding

Ingredients

Measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml

• 1/2 cup coarse rava / sooji semolina
• 1/4 cup ghee
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup lukewarm milk
• 2 tbsp slivered almonds
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• About 30 strands of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp hot water

For garnish (optional)

• dried rose petals, as required
• slivered pistachios, as required

Instructions

• Dry roast the semolina in a heavy bottomed pan over medium-low heat until it turns crisp, fragrant and golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plate and set aside.
• Wipe the same pan with a clean kitchen napkin and add ghee, once it melts, add slivered almonds. When the almonds turn light brown, add the raisins, cook until the raisins turn plump and swell up.
• Add the roasted semolina, cook for another 1-2 minutes, until you see some ghee being released from the semolina.
• Add the milk and water along with saffron extract, and stir continuously as you pour the liquid to avoid any lump formation. Cook for another 2 minutes until the semolina absorbs all the liquid.
• Add the sugar and give everything a quick stir. The sugar will melt and leave water. Keep stirring until the mixture begins to thicken.
• Add cardamom powder, and mix well. The sheera/pudding is ready once the mixture comes together and ghee oozes from the sides of the pan. Serve warm garnished with additional dried fruits if desired. You can present this in two ways, either use a fancy mold or a plain bowl, fill the pudding, press it to make it compact, then invert it in the serving plate. Or simply serve it directly in a bowl.

Notes

• Store leftovers in the refrigerator. It will keep well for up to a week. Reheat in the microwave before serving.
• You can increase the sugar to 1/2 cup if you prefer a sweeter rava sheera | semolina pudding. This is the perfect amount of sweetness for us.

This Indian Eggless Cake Rusk are crispy and crunchy, sweet and delicious tea time treats. Skip the store-bought ones and make them at home instead, you won’t believe how easy it is!

WHAT IS RUSK?

Rusk is very similar to Italian biscotti. It is simply a twice-baked cake/bread. There are two kinds of rusk that are very popular in India, one is cake rusk and the other is milk rusk. What is the difference between the two? Cake Rusk is simply twice-baked cake and milk rusk is twice baked enriched bread. Both are equally delicious!

WHAT THEN IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TOAST AND RUSK?

Toast is a dry toasted bread, browned by dry roasting in a toaster, skillet or oven. Rusk, on the other hand, like I’ve mentioned is baked twice.

Today’s post is all about an eggless cake rusk recipe . I’ll leave the milk rusk for another day!

HOW TO MAKE CAKE RUSK?

To make this rusk biscuit, pick your favorite eggless cake, cut it into slices and bake again until crisp and golden. For this homemade rusk recipe, I used my go-to eggless cake, the resultant rusk toast was just perfect, crisp and crunchy that tasted super delicious 🙂

If you don’t like making a cake from scratch, feel free to make this cake rusk from cake mix . After baking the cake, follow the last three steps mentioned in the recipe instructions.

HOW TO EAT CRISPY CAKE RUSK?

Since rusks are dry and hard biscuits, they are best dunked in some liquid, like milk, coffee or my favorite thing to pair them with is chai. It becomes soft and just melts in your mouth. Beware, it is so addictive that you may lose track of how many you’ve eaten. Cake Rusk and chai is one of those things that sends me down memory lane in an instant! Sheer nostalgia!

I used to buy these cake rusk from the Indian store until I happened to see the ingredients. I wasn’t too pleased to see what went into it. So, I decided to try making them at home, and it was an instant hit. My homemade rusks were so good that they were wiped out in two days.

If you love these crispy munchies as much, do try this simple rusk recipe soon 🙂

• Karachi bakery style fruit biscuits (eggless)
• Badam Pista biscuits
• Eggless coconut cookies
• Whole wheat and oats Digestive cookies

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE INDIAN CAKE RUSK

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees C, position a rack in the middle of the oven. Grease a 7 x 7-inch square pan or 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with little butter and dust with flour to coat the pan, or you may use parchment paper.

2.In a medium mixing bowl, sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add salt, whisk the dry ingredients until well combined. Set aside.

3.In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and creamy, scraping down in between, should take about 2-3 minutes. Or you can use an electric hand mixer/beater.

4.Add in the yogurt next, continue beating on medium-high speed.

5.In goes the vanilla extract/cardamom powder next. Beat on medium speed for another 30 seconds.

6.Now reduce to the lowest possible speed , alternately add the dry ingredients and milk, starting with flour and ending with flour. ( DO NOT OVER MIX ).

7.Transfer the batter to the baking pan. Gently tap it on the counter 2-3 times to remove the air bubbles. Bake on the middle rack for 40-45 min or until the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

8.Cool the cake on a rack in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on the rack completely. Let the cake cool down completely, at least for an hour. If you try slicing it when it is warm, it will be crumbly, as this is a soft cake.

9.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/ 180 degrees C. Once completely cool, cut the cake into 1/2 inch slices. Cut the cake in the middle and start cutting 1/2 inch pieces from there on.

10.Place the cake slices on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes on one side or until a light golden brown.

11.Remove the tray from the oven, flip the slices gently and bake for another 20 – 25 minutes.

12.Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool completely. Store them in an airtight container when they are completely cool.

HOW TO MAKE INDIAN CAKE RUSK?

Cake Rusk | Indian Cake Rusk (Eggless)

Ingredients1x2x3x

Measuring cup used, 1 Cup = 250 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml

• 1 & 1/2 cups / 214 grams / 7.5 oz unbleached all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1 cup / 210 grams / 7.4 oz granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup / 113 grams / 4 oz unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup / 115 grams / 4 oz yogurt/dahi, non-sour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt, skip if using salted butter
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees C, position a rack in the middle of the oven. Grease a 7 x 7-inch square pan or 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with little butter and dust with flour to coat the pan, or you may use parchment paper.
• In a medium mixing bowl, sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add salt, whisk the dry ingredients until well combined. Set aside.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and creamy, scraping down in between, should take about 2-3 minutes. Or you can use an electric hand mixer/beater.
• Add in the yogurt next, continue beating on medium-high speed.
• In goes the vanilla extract/cardamom powder next. Beat on medium speed for another 30 seconds.
• Now reduce to the lowest possible speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and milk, starting with flour and ending with flour. (DO NOT OVER MIX).
• Transfer the batter to the baking pan. Gently tap it on the counter 2-3 times to remove the air bubbles. Bake on the middle rack for 40-45 min or until the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Cool the cake on a rack in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on the rack completely. Let the cake cool down completely, at least for an hour. If you try slicing it when it is warm, it will be crumbly, as this is a soft cake.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/ 180 degrees C. Once completely cool, cut the cake into 1/2 inch slices. Cut the cake in the middle and start cutting 1/2 inch pieces from there on.
• Place the cake slices on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes on one side or until a light golden brown.
• Remove the tray from the oven, flip the slices gently and bake for another 20 - 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool completely. Store them in an airtight container when they are completely cool.

I would love to hear from you, please feel free to share your feedback with photos and suggestions to me at aromaticessence77@gmail.com

You can also follow me on :

Facebook @ Aromaticessence

Pinterest @ Aromatic Essence

Instagram @ aromatic_essence77

Twitter @ freda_dias

Regards,

Freda