Sheera

This is a very favorite as well as very popular Indian desert. It is not very elaborate nor time consuming and yet very tasty. It is made out of Semolina which is called Rava or Soji in India. It is a kind of pasta made out of enriched wheat.

8 Srvings

Ingredients:

2 cups of semolina

12 gm unsalted butter

2 cups of milk (options – whole milk/2%/1%/fat free/water)

1 ½ cups of sugar

2 tsp. cardamom powder

10 strings of saffron or ½ tea spoon of saffron powder

For garnishing:

10 small almonds

10 golden raisins.

Directions for microwave:

Put semolina in a suitable microwavable bowl. For gradual roasting of the semolina you have to move the semolina with a table spoon from time to time after each setting given below so that it would become uniformed light golden brown. Make sure that you scrape it thoroughly after each setting before the next setting. You may take out the bowl after completion of each setting using pot holders to avoid burning your fingers and putting it on a trivet to move it like mixing it with a table spoon. It sounds difficult but once you start doing it, you will find it very easy.

Follow the microwave settings given below and follow the above instructions after completion of each setting before putting the bowl back in the micro for the next setting.

1^st  setting — 2 minutes

2^nd  setting – 1 ½ minutes

3^rd  setting – 1 minute

4^th   setting – 1 minute

5^th   setting – ½ minute

6^th   setting – ½ minute

Now the semolina would look light brown and would smell roasted. Put it aside and follow the instructions given below;

Now you will be cooking the roasted semolina which becomes more than twice the quantity of roasted semolina after it is cooked with all the given ingredients. So have a large cooking pan accordingly with a lid. You will need a large spoon or a frying spoon.

Put the pan on medium fire and add the butter to melt. You may cut it into pieces for fast melting. Add cardamom and saffron while it is melting and stir.

When the butter is melted lower the fire to lowest and add semolina and stir to mix the butter evenly to the semolina. Add the milk and mix it. Put the lid and let it cook for 5 minutes on low fire.

Open the lid and mix it again. Now you will find that the semolina has cooked and has become somewhat solid like a cake. Add sugar and keep stirring and mixing the sugar. In the beginning it will turn to be a semi liquid but gradually, while you are stirring, the sugar will get caramelized and would start getting solid. You will notice the change of the color into golden brown and it would stop sticking to the pan. This is when it is done. It takes almost 10 to 12 minutes to be done after adding the sugar.

Take it out in a suitable serving bowl and garnish it with almonds and raisins as shown in the picture. It tastes nice either warm or cold. Normally, it is served warm.