Banana sheera recipe – It is made from semolina, sugar and banana. It is similar to the sooji halwa with addition of banana.
Usually it is offered to the God as a prasadam while performing ‘Satyanarayan Pooja’ or any other pooja like devi pooja or Ganesh pooja.
It is also known as banana sooji halwa.
When I was kid, I always wait for the pooja to finish, so I get to eat this banana sheera as a prasad.
Basically on the pooja day devotees keep fast for whole day. After the pooja ends, it is distributed to devotees or followers and they break their fast by eating this. Prasad means god’s or deity’s blessing.
Here I have added water but for richer taste, you can use milk instead. But as per Ayurveda, milk and banana is the worst food combination which can upset the stomach. So I usually prefer water.
Check out other halwa recipes
Pineapple halwa // Mango halwa // Atte ka halwa // gajar halwa
How to make banana sheera (Step by Step Recipe with Photos):
1) First mash the banana using fork.
2) Heat the ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add cashews. Fry them till they are golden brown.
3) Drain the excess oil and remove it to the bowl. If using raisin then add them now, within few seconds they will plump up. Remove into the same bowl with cashews.
4) Now add sooji to the ghee. Roast it with stirring continuously on medium-low heat.
5) While roasting sooji, on another stove put the water and bring it to a boil. Alternately you can heat up the water in microwave too.
6) It will take about 6-8 minutes. It becomes very light brown in color. Make sure to roast on medium-low heat with stirring constantly. You will get nice aroma of roasted sooji.
7) Once sooji is roasted well, add boiling water. As you add the water, keep mixing. By doing this you will get smooth consistency If you dump all the water at once you will end up with lumps of sooji.
8) Cook with stirring constantly till mixture becomes dry. And ghee will starts to ooze out from the sides and it leaves the sides of the pan.
9) Add sugar and mashed banana.
10) Mix well and again it becomes runny as sugar melts. Keep stirring.
11) And cook till it leaves the sides of the pan and you will see some ghee oozing out from it. At that time turn off the stove.
12) Add cashews, raisins and cardamom powder.
13) Mix well and it is ready.
If making this for pooja then add few pomegranate arils on top and then offer to the God. I have seen served this way in many temples.
Serving suggestion: This banana sheera is usually made as a prasad to offer to the god while performing any pooja especially Satyanarayan pooja.
Banana sheera recipe for prasad
Ingredients (1 cup = 240 ml)
- 3 tablespoons Ghee (Clarified Butter)
- 2 tablespoons Cashew nuts chopped
- ½ tablespoon Raisins optional
- ½ cup Sooji (rava or semolina)
- 1 cup Water
- ⅓ cup Sugar
- 1 medium Banana mashed or chopped
- ¼ teaspoon Green cardamom seeds powder
Instructions
- First mash the banana using fork.
- Heat the ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add cashews. Fry them till they are golden brown.
- Drain the excess oil and remove it to the bowl.
- If using raisin then add them now, within few seconds they will plump up. Remove into the same bowl with cashews.
- Now add sooji to the remaining ghee. Roast it with stirring continuously on medium-low heat.
- While roasting sooji, on another stove put the water and bring it to a boil. Alternately you can heat up the water in microwave too.
- It will take about 6-8 minutes. It becomes very light brown in color.
- Make sure to roast on medium-low heat with stirring constantly. You will get nice aroma of roasted sooji.
- Once sooji is roasted well, add boiling water. As you add the water, keep mixing.
- Cook with stirring constantly till mixture becomes dry. And ghee will starts to ooze out from the sides and it leaves the sides of the pan.
- Add sugar and mashed banana.
- Mix well and again sheera becomes runny as sugar melts. Keep stirring.
- And cook till it leaves the sides of the pan and you will see some ghee oozing out from it.
- At that time turn off the stove. Add cashews, raisins and cardamom powder.
- Mix well and it is ready.
I was looking for this recipe as I ate an amazing Banana-sheera at a restaurant. I usually dont eat sheera but this one tastes amazing. At another website I found a recipe which mentioned to add banana to boiling water which I didnt like. I am gonna try this one! Thank you very much for sharing lovely recipe!
Sure give it a try. Happy Cooking!!
What gives it a better taste water or milk? Thanks.
Milk gives rich, creamy flavors
While water makes it light.
Choice is yours
Yummy I am gonna try this.
hope you like it
Please tell me in grams how much is your cup measure. Many receipes use cup measures and I cannot get the texture or consistency right.
I have used american measuring cups. 1 cup = 250 ml.
Thanks for posting this lovely recipe. Substituting pineapple for the banana yields another fabulous dessert. Of course, like you said these fruits are best added smashed so they are distributed evenly – uneven content distribution is a big no with prasads. Another thing to try is substituting the cashews with other nuts – say, walnuts. Don’t put all of them in the same recipe though. Pecans, in particular, add a nice twist. Also try substituting the raisins with dried cranberries.
BTW, its best to avoid metal spatulas with non stick cookware.
Cheers.
good idea of using pineapple instead of banana. Yes we can use any nuts, but traditionally in prasad cashews are used and so I have added here. Again addition of cranberry is brilliant idea. thank you very much for your nice suggestions.
I never use metal spatula with non stick. The pan in this pic is not non-stick, it is our regular Indian kadai.
Tried this exact recipe step by step as mentioned here and it turned out very well. Thank you 🙂
very glad to know that it came out well.
Beautiful luking banana prasad..use ful step wise clicks.