Recipe for Bowl Sheera or Restaurant Sheera
Restaurant Sheera or ‘Bowl Sheera’ is something I thought I could only enjoy only at a Restaurant and Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought I would succeed making it at Home! But I’m so Happy &Thanks to COVID, I proved my rubbish assumption totally wrong! Yayyy! Since I’m still not quite comfortable eating out too often during these times, I’m trying my hand at a lot of my ‘Restaurant Favourites’ at Home, some successful, some not so successful. But this, turned out way above my expectation! As kids, Sheera & Puri used to be my brother and my favourite Sunday breaky. After Mass and Sunday school, we would enjoy our Sheera Puri at a South Indian Restaurant in South Bombay called ‘AnandAshram’..We loved their Sheera so much that even when we would go to eat a Thali, we would request the waiter to replace the dessert in the thali with Sheera 😊 Also, once a year, the Muslim community would organise an Urs or Urus(like a fair) with so many food stalls late at Night, outside the Darga near where we lived & Mum n Dad would take us to specially eat Halwa Puri at the stalls. Also, when we used to go to Goa for our Summer hols, there would be a day where the Hindu community would organise a Puja on the Volleyball ground near our House and the Puja would go on till late night. After the Puja they would distribute this Super Yummy Sheera to all the Neighbours in the Village and My Brother & I would wait for our share like bukkads! So yeah! We have a Heart to Heart connection with SHEERA! :) :)Very recently, we enjoyed a bowl of Sheera at a South Indian Restaurant here in Dubai and OMG it took me back to AnandAshram and I was so hellbent on trying to make it at Home. Ever since I participated in a Food show on TV, I’ve learnt and got into the habit of tasting & trying to guess the ingredients in the dish and I try my best to replicate it on my own, with some help from the internet if there's something too complicated or I can't understand. The outcome of Some, I’m super Happy with and Some I feel like laughing and crying at the same time! hahahah What Mum makes at Home is a No Fuss simple Sheera which we cut into pieces and eat like a cake. So for us, in our head, Bowl Sheera could only be enjoyed at Restaurants. I’d be lying if I said that as I kid, I didn’t try my stunts of adding Water and Milk(and lots of it) to Mum’s Cake Sheera, to make it like our favourite ‘Bowl Sheera’ but, I never got it right but failed miserably..So, FINALLY.... here’s my tried-tested-failed-tried again-failed a second time-didn’t give up-tried again and succeeded attempt at our favourite Restaurant Style ‘Bowl Sheera’
Servings 2 people
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Semolina(Do not use Roasted Semolina. It will ruin the taste, texture and colour of the Sheera)
- 1.5 Cups Water
- ½ Cup Sugar(If Not using Pineapple, then increase the Sugar content to ¾ Cup) Or 1 Cup Jaggery as a substitute to Sugar
- 100 gms Pineapple – optional but it enhances the flavour (chopped very fine or grind into a coarse paste. Please ensure the Pineapple is not Sour)
- 2 Tbspn Sunflower Oil(Do not use any Oil with an overpowering flavour. Oil will the Sheera to remain silky smooth and the Semolia grains will retain it’s pearly texture)
- 3 Tbspn pure Ghee(Please don’t compromise on the Ghee quantity. This was the main reason why I would never succeed to perfect my favourite bowl sheera)
- 8-10 Cashew Nuts – roughly chopped
- 8-10 Black or Golden raisins
- ¼ Tspn Salt(Salt enhances the taste even in a Sweet dish)
- ½ Tspn Cardamom Powder
- ½ Tspn Turmeric Powder or Lemon Yellow edible Food Colour
Instructions
- In a Pan, heat 1 Tbspn Ghee on low heat and fry the Raisin sand Cashews till the Cashews turn light brown and transfer it into a bowlNote: It will take about 5 minutes
- In the same Pan add 1 Tbspn Ghee and the Semolina and roast the Semolina for 5-7 minutes on medium low heatNote: Do not Roast the Semolina until it turns brown. The semolina has to be white but should release a roasted Aroma. If the Semolina turns brown, the Sheera will turn dry and the texture will be completely off
- In a skillet add the Water, Oil, Salt, Cardamom Powder, Turmeric powder or Food colour and Pineapple and bring it to a boil on High heat and let it boil for atleast 5 minutes so that the Pineapple turns softNote: If you're using jaggery, add the jaggery at this stage so that it gets dissolved into the boiling water
- Then lower the heat to medium low and add the roasted Semolina and immediately start stirring it in order to avoid lumps to form
- Keep stirring and let it cook until the Sheera begins to thicken.
- Then add the remaining 1 Tbspn of Ghee into the sheera and keep mixing itNote: Adding the Ghee at this stage will prevent the Sheera from turning stiff and hard and will help it maintain it's smooth moist consistency
- Add the Sugar now and continue mixingNote: the Sheera may turn runny at this stage but fikar not, as it continues to cook, it will thicken.Do not add the Sugar in the Water at the start thinking it will easily get dissolved, etc. Adding the Sugar at the start, may crystalise the Sheera(make it hard). Adding the Sugar once the Semolina is mixed with the Hot water will keep the Sheera nice and moist
- Add the Dry Fruits and continue mixing until it thickens and turn off the flame and cover it with the lid slightly open for 5-10 minutesNote: Once it is cooked, the sheera will be extremely soft and sticky. Covering it for sometime, will allow it to thicken and get a beautiful texture as the Semolina absorbs the moisture from the Water and Oil & Ghee
- Enjoy your Restaurant/Bowl Sheera now at Home😊
