Sooji Halwa with Banana/ Banana Sheera

 Today is a special day. It is Janmashtami, a festival that celebrates birth of Lord Krishna. This day is extra special for me personally as my father too was born on Janmashtami. He liked to celebrate his birthday on Janmashtami more than on his actual birthdate. Today is also my father-in-laws birthday as per the date. Such a lovely coincidence! I want to make this day memorable for me by starting my blogging journey on this special day with blessings of both my fathers and both the mothers too! I look forward to enjoy this delicious journey with you all!

Most girls have special bond with their fathers and so did I. He was my best friend and also my first guru in kitchen. I learnt my basic cooking from my father. He is the one who happily devoured even my failed recipes! Never criticized, just provided me with a feedback of how to improve and encouraged me not only in cooking but in everything I did. 

I am lucky to have had a special bond with my father-in-law too. I learned few recipes from him which I look forward to share with you all soon. Today I am sharing a recipe of his favorite dish- Sooji Halwa or Sheera as we call it in Maharashtra. I don’t think I will ever make Sheera/ Sooji Halwa without thinking about Baba. He loved it so much! Today we will make it the way we make it for Satyanarayan Puja- with bananas in it! Do give it a try. You will love it!

To prepare Sooji Halwa with Banana, we will need-

Ingredients-

1 cup Semolina/ Sooji/ Rava

½ cup Ghee/ Clarified Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 cup Milk

1 cup Water

1 Banana, chopped in pieces

Some Raisins and pieces of cashew and almonds as per your choice.

1 tsp cardamom powder

Method:

1. Mix 1 cup milk and 1 cup water and heat it on low flame.
2. On other burner, heat a pan/wok/ kadhai till it is slightly heated and then add 4 tsp of ghee to it.
3. Once the ghee is slightly heated, add pieces of cashew and fry them till they are slightly pink in color. Remove them on a paper towel. Then add almond pieces and fry them till they are lightly toasted. Remove them and keep them with fried cashews. Now add raisins and fry them till they puff up. Remove them and keep them aside.
4. Now add remainder ghee to the pan/kadhai and let it heat a little but make sure that it is not very hot before adding Semolina else our semolina will burn. Once the ghee is slightly heated, add semolina. Now roast the semolina till it is light pinkish color and you can also feel the lightness in the Semolina. This should take around 5-7 minute.
5. Meanwhile, keep a watch on milk which is heating on another burner and make sure that it is not boiling. If it is, put off the flame and cover it. Now add the chopped banana and mash it well so that it mixes well with the semolina. Roast it together for another 3-4 minutes.
6. Now add hot milk to this mixture and stir continuously so that no lumps are formed. Once the Semolina thickens up, cover it and cook for 3-4 minutes.
7. Now open the cover and give it a nice mix. Then add 1 cup sugar and mix it well with semolina. The mix will get slightly loose once the sugar melts and it will be easy to blend. Once the sugar is nicely mixed with Semolina, cover it cook for another 2-3 minutes.
8. Open and add 1 tsp of Cardamom powder to this and also the fried nuts. Mix it all well and cover.

9. Put off the flame and let it sit for 4-5 minutes to allow Cardamom flavor to infuse nicely in the Sooji Halwa.

10. Our Sooji Halwa with banana is ready to be served!

You can also watch the process on our YouTube Channel. 

Here is the link for recipe in English-

Here is link for recipe in Marathi-