Recipe : Peach Sheera / Sooji Halwa / Rava Halwa / Sweet Upma / Semolina Pudding - (Vegan option)

Sooji halwa in Mangalore and around is called sheera.

Pineapple sheera / pineapple kesari / kesari bath  is the most common variant of this dish and Hotel Woodlands in Mangalore used to make an excellent version.  However in the recent season, mango sheera has been all over my social media feeds.

Friends and family know my aversion to fruits. The smell of most fruits makes me nauseous.

However, I do enjoy a few types of fruits and I do love a very select few. Preserved peaches are not really fresh fruit, but I Love them.

I found this brand called Brenda’s here in Johannesburg that are organic and low on added sugar that I really love, so I pick up a couple of jars each time.

This time instead of adding sugar to the sheera, I used the sweetness of the raisins and peaches with a little canning liquid.

I'm first going to give you the recipe of regular sheera, that is often served as breakfast or tiffin in Mangalore / Udupi. One of my uncles, loves pairing it with pooris for a more filling start to the day. Our Manglorean version of Poori + Shrikhand I guess.

Mum often gave us this for breakfast before heading off to school

Ingredients :

2 tbsp ghee

2 tbsp raisins - (optional)

1 tbsp broken cashewnuts - (optional)

1 cup fine sooji / Bombay rava / semolina

2 cups milk (or water or a mix of the 2 - the more milk, the richer the taste)

1/2 cup sugar

Method :

Soak raisins in a little water to rehydrate.

Heat your liquid component - milk / water / milk + water to boiling hot.

In a large pan or kadhai, heat the ghee.

Toast the nuts to golden brown if using and remove from the pan.

Roast the soji / rava / semolina on a medium flame until lightly browned.

Now add the raisins if using.

Add the boiling liquid and stir continuously to prevent lumps.

When it smells cooked and starts to come together, add the sugar and mix well.

When it starts to dry, turn off the heat, add cashewnuts and serve hot.

You can also set it on a greased plate and cut shapes when cooled and serve it at room temperature.

Variations & Tips :

You can add 2 pinches of cardamom powder / cinnamon powder / nutmeg powder at the end, for a more fragrant version.

Since the liquid in preserved fruit always seems to get leftover, instead of 2 cups milk + 1/2 cup sugar, I used 1/2 cup canning liquid and 1.5 cup milk.

I think the original recipe would call for about 1 cup sugar, that's way too much for us and I have found that 1/2 cup works well. You may want to adjust the sweetness to your personal preference.

If you are making a fruit version, then remember to account for the sweetness of the fruit.

Fruit Versions - Pineapple kesari / Mango sheera/ Peach sheera ...

For the above quantities, use 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup fruit chopped fine (or even pulped if you want a super smooth version)

If you are using an acidic /sour fruit like pineapple, then the liquid is only water, no milk.

Fruits that are traditionally added are bananas or pineapple, but you can use mangoes, peaches or any other fruit that you have on hand.

The fruit is added AFTER you turn off the gas, as it really doesn't need to cook. It will just be gently warmed in the residual heat of the halwa / sheera.

A Note on Udupi Tiffin Rooms Menus:

Pineapple sheera is called kesari bath - the kesar (saffron) colour often coming from turmeric rather than the more expensive herb.

Kesari bath could also be just a yellow coloured sheera without pineapple - but definitely sweet.

Upma is referred to as khara bath (salty)

So if you see a dish called chow chow bath on the menu, it means one serving of sweet sheera and one serving of salty upma.