RAJGIRA HALWA / SHEERA

Rajgira which means royal grain, truly justifies its name, as it is a powerhouse of nutrition. It is known by many names and different names having different meanings….Amaranth which means undying, Ramdana means god’s grain. With several names, this grain has gained popularity over the years in various regions such as Rajgira in Western and Southern parts of India, Ramdana in eastern parts of India. Amaranth contains more than three times the average amount of calcium and is also high in iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and it is the only grain which contains Vitamin C.   Rajgira or Amaranth flour is one of the many ingredients that are acceptable for the Navratri, Ekadashi and other fast to make delectable stuff like puris as well.  It is very easy and simple to make. I made this for Maha-Shivratri Vrat few days back and sharing it with you all today. Amaranth is gluten-free and very healthy flour made from Amaranth are slightly coarse compare to singhara or kuttu flour which gives more texture to the halwa. Rajgira Sheera needs very few ingredients to make it. The halwa can be prepred with either milk or water. It is rich because of milk and ghee used and therefore eaten in small quantities. It tasted just so delicious, whether fasting or not this makes a wonderful dessert. This recipe is perfect for those fasting people who got bored eating sabudana dishes, like sabudana vada, khichdi, etc and need some healthy treat on fasting days. Not a tricky one to prepare but needs patience while roasting the flour in ghee without burning it until it turns light brown. You can use jaggery instead of sugar as a sweetener. The consistency of Rajgira Halwa is more smoother as compared to the sooji halwa since flour is the base here.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Rajgira Flour

 1 Cup Full Fat Milk

½ - ¾ Cup Sugar

½ Cup Ghee

1 tablespoon chopped Nuts [almonds, cashews, pistachios, raisins]

Pinch of Cardamom Powder

METHOD:

STEP 1 – First add 1 tablespoon ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add chopped nuts and fry until light brown in colour. Remove and keep aside. Likewise, add raisins and fry for few seconds. They get puffed after frying. Remove and keep aside with fried nuts.

STEP 2 – Now add remaining ghee in the same pan and add rajgira flour 

and roast well on low flame till it becomes dark brown and aromatic.  

STEP 3 – While roasting flour, keep milk for boil, once it comes a good boil, switch off the flame.

STEP 4 – Once the flour get roasted, add boiled milk in it and stir with the help of flat spatula to avoid lumps.

STEP 5 – Once the mixture becomes thick,

 add sugar and mix well for sugar to combine. [I have used jaggery powder here]

STEP 6 – Cover it with a lid for about 4-5 minutes.

STEP 7 – Finally add chopped nuts and cardamom powder and mix well.

Reserve some nuts for garnishing. Serve hot.

Serve hot Rajgira Halwa garnished with some chopped nuts and enjoy.