Sheera / Sooji ka Halwa

Sheera / Sooji ka Halwa

Sheera is a Traditional Indian sweet dish  made for religious events and served in little paper cups as "prasad" or an offering to the diety. 


Ingredients :

• 1 Cup Fine Rawa / Sooji
• 1.1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1.1/2 Cup Milk
• 2/3 Cup Ghee ( Clarified Butter)
• 1/2 Tsp Cardamom powder
• Raisins, Cashew Nuts, Almonds broken into pieces.

Method :

Heat Ghee in kadai and roast rawa / sooji in ghee on low flame till the toasted aroma of rawa / sooji waffles through or until it turns lightly golden brown..Then add milk sugar to it and keep stirring to prevent formation of lumps.Then cook over medium heat until the water gets completely absorbed.Add cardamom powder and mix well. Finally garnish with raisins, cashew nuts, almonds pieces and serve hot.

Modak

Modak

A modak (मोदक) is a sweet dumpling popular in Western and South India.Modak has a special importance in the worship of the Hindu god, Ganesh. Modak is believed to be his favorite food and hence is also known as modakapriya.During the Ganesh worship ceremony,known in India as Ganesh Chaturthi the puja sometimes concludes with an offering of modaks to the deity and as prasad. The sweet filling is made of fresh coconut and jaggery while the shell is of rice flour. The dumpling can be fried or steamed.

Ingredients :

• 3 Cups Rice Flour
• 5-6 Cups Water
• 6 tsp Oil
• 4 Cups Grated Coconut
• 2 Cups Powdered Jaggery
• A pinch of salt

Method :

 
For the outer covering boil water, add oil and pinch of salt into it. Now add the rice flour into it , little by little constantly stirring to avoid lumps. Take off heat now, cover the mixture and let it cool.

When cool, grease your hands with little bit of oil and knead mixture well into a dough and cover it with moist cloth . 
Now for stuffing take the coconut and jaggery in a heavy bottomed pan. Keep on stirring the mixture on low flame. When the mixture becomes fairly dry and turns a shade darker, take off heat. 

Now make balls with the covering dough and flatten them on the palm into a circle. Put the stuffing in it and cover it completely with dough. Form 7-8 pleats with your fingers and fold the edges tapering to the center. 

 Steam cook the modaks in a cooker for 15 minutes and serve with little bit of Ghee.