Seero / Suji ka halwa

I'm not one of the biggest fans of Indian sweets. Sure there is an exception here and there...Like my mum's amazing 'gulab jamuns'- which are made out of mawa (khoya) which is a rich dairy product used in the best of indian sweet recipes!! You can tell why anyone who tastes them would go crazy..they are perfectly sweet (but not too sweet) and deep fried and then soaked in a sugar syrup with saffron and cardamom!!..mmMmm

Anyway that is a recipe for another day!!!

Unfortunately we don't get this Mawa in the UK, so we usually replace it with Milk powder- which pretty much does the job- but if you DO taste something with the original 'mawa' in it- you can totally taste the difference!!! 

Back home whenever there would be a 'happy occassion' at mosque, along with the main meal that would be served, we would also get either of these two dishes. 'Seero' (semolina/suji halwa) or 'Zarda' (a gorgeous, aromatic, sweet yellow rice with nuts and raisins).  Both of these dishes are extremely gorgeous and delicious in their own ways.

The Seero/Suji ka halwa, whose recipe I am going to post today is more of a soft, gooey, yummy sweet. Its perfect when eaten piping hot and is extremely delectable!

You could try making a low fat version of it, but I think that if you are going to indulge in something, you may as well have the best version of it!!! Anything else would be a waste of calories!! :-P

My sister in law always makes this when we go to her place, and it is gorgeous!! It was one of those things that I used to absolutely love eating, but never actually thought of making it. 

I once was having some guests over and it struck me that this would be a perfect ending to a meal!..I was amazed when she gave me the recipe..it was SO easy!!!

How can something that tastes so good be so easy to make??

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup ghee (clarified butter)- make sure you don't replace this with oil. This is the real stuff!!!

1 cup milk powder

1 cup semolina (suji)

1 can evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

Half a teaspoon cardamom powder (elaichi powder)

saffron

Crushed nuts for sprinkling on top (I use almonds and pistachios)

Method:

Firstly, blend together the evaporated milk, the sugar and milk powder.

Next, all you have to do is heat up the ghee in a pan, and then add in the semolina. Stir it continuously. You will see that the semolina has soaked up all the ghee. Don't worry about that and keep stirring for a couple of minutes.

Then pour in the blended mixture of the evaporated milk/sugar/milk powder.

The mixture will be quite runny. Keep stirring it. Add in the cardamom powder and the saffron and keep mixing.

The mixture will suddenly become quite thick.

Pour it in to a dishl and sprinkle it generously with crushed nuts.

Its so easy to make and is ready in just a couple of minutes. Totally worth it and perfect when you want to make your guests happy :-)

Happy cooking!!!

-S