kalpana’s la cucina..... spice 4 all seasons: SUJI GUD KA HALWA/ GULACHA SHEERA

_________________I am Mrs. Kalpana Mhaske, a Home-Maker, from the city of 52-Gates, one of the famous heritage- destination of the world- Ajanta - Ellora Caves, Bibi-Ka- Maqbara (The Taj of Deccan) and Deogiri Fort. i.e. AURANGABAD. I admire cooking - tryout and innovate different cuisines. Basically, both of my gorgeous daughters are foodie, they have always encouraged me in the kitchen and forced to carve a Food Blog, that’s why, I am happy to share the makings with you. I am an artist too. Painting – especially, Canvas-Painting is my one more hobby. In total - Ours is an ART-FAMILY, my husband is an Architect. In the end, I keep the same belief with Louise Fresco - “ Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It’s about honesty. it’s about identity ”

Saturday 25 June 2022

SUJI GUD KA HALWA/ GULACHA SHEERA

Here is the healthy sweet dish that holds a lot of importance on various festivals. It's very delicious dessert that has an amazing taste and can be very easily made at home.

Suji halwa/ Gur Ka Halwa (or Gulacha Sheera as it is called in Marathi) is one of the easiest and simplest sweets ever made. It is very tasty and healthy as semolina is extracted during the durum wheat bran separation. It is a traditional Indian dish, it is mostly prepared during Winters, as jaggery and ghee lend warmth to the body. By adding jaggery this dessert becomes more nutritious and healthier. The benefits of jaggery include its ability to cleanse your body, sweeten your food in a healthy manner and provide good amounts of minerals. Jaggery gives it a very unique flavour and is known to be super healthy for your body. In many places in India, this halwa is eaten in combination with puri.

There are many different types of halwa recipes in India. We make it from fruits, veggies, flour, semolina and even lentils. Like - Gur ka halwa, Aate ka halwa, Moong dal halwa, Pumpkin halwa, Sama chawal halwa. The best part of this recipe is you can make this halwa recipe with both sooji and wholemeal flour. If you are wondering what struck me on head for uploading a Halwa post in this season. The pleasant cool and breezy weather has provided me all the reasons to indulge in this hot bowl of comfort.

Halwa is the most prepared sweet / dessert at my place as my hubby is very fond of sweets. And rather than making cookies and cakes, I favors much of Indian sweets rather than international. The reason being it’s easy as no special ingredients are required. Can be said all the ingredients are easily available in an Indian household. It takes maximum of 30 minutes to prepare. I normally make Sheera (Suji Halwa) with sugar but in recent times have cut down sugar quite a bit so this option with jaggery was very appealing. I find that eating even a little of a jaggery-based sweet tends to satisfy the craving for a dessert while sugar-based sweets make me crave for more. We have been trying to make conscious effort to include less of refined sugar in our desserts and bakes. And this halwa is one such dessert in that endeavour. I intend to share more of such desserts that have been sweetened with jaggery (gur) in times to come. I already shared Whole Wheat Halwa With Jaggery recipes on my blog. Any halwa may it be. A little bite of sweet is must after every meal.

Thanks for visiting and see you soon again with another exciting recipe! If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you pin it or share it with your Facebook fans or Twitter followers or Google+ circles today. All it takes is a simple click on the “pin it” “like,” “share,” “tweet,” or Google+ buttons below the post. It will keep me motivated. Thank you and see you soon again with another exciting recipe!

INGREDIENTS :

1-1/4 Cup Sooji/Rava/Semolina

3/4 Cup Ghee

1-1/4 Cup Jaggery ( see notes )

750 ml Water ( see notes )

1/2 teaspoon Cardamom powder

1/4 Cup mixed Nuts (cashew, pistachio, almond, raisins)

1/2 tablespoon chopped Nuts for garnishing

METHOD :

STEP 1 - In a deep pan mix together jaggery & water.

STEP 2 - Heat so jaggery dissolves.

STEP 3 - Let it come to boil. Boil it for 2-3 minutes.

STEP 4 - Strain it using a strainer. Keep aside.

STEP 5 - Heat ghee in a heavy bottom wok/kadai or non stick pan.

STEP 6 - Add in suji. Roast on low flame till fragrant and colour changes to light brown. ( see notes )

STEP 7 - It takes around 15-16 minutes to roast the semolina/rava.

STEP 8 - Now add the jaggery water slowly while stirring constantly to ensure no lumps are formed. Be careful the hot contents will splatter around.

STEP 9 - Give it a nice stir and cover it.

STEP 10 - Let the rava cook in the jaggery water till the water is all absorbed and the sheera / halwa comes together as a ball and starts leaving the sides of pan. Mix well at regular intervals.