There is nothing quite like a bowl of homemade rava sheera. It comes out deliciously sweet, soft, fluffy, and rich every time and is always sure to satisfy the sweet tooth. The same sheera (garnished with tulsi leaves and served with sliced bananas and pomegranate arils) is made for Satyanarayan Katha (puja) as a prasad.
Add ghee to a heavy bottom pan and turn the heat on to medium. Let the ghee get nice and hot.
Meantime, take milk in a microwave-safe bowl and heat it until it just starts to come to a boil. Alternatively, you can heat the milk in a saucepan on the stovetop.
NOTE: Ghee must be hot, so check by adding a pinch of rava in the ghee and it should sizzle right away. That’s the right temperature of ghee. If rava settles at the bottom of the pan then the ghee is not hot enough.
Once the ghee is hot, add semolina. You can see semolina is bubbling and becomes frothy from the sides. That’s perfect and crucial for fluffy texture and it happens when added to the hot ghee.
Keep stirring constantly and roast the semolina until it is very light golden brown in color. We don’t want to burn or are not looking for dark golden color. The hint is, ghee starts to separate from semolina as it is roasted. Earlier all the ghee was absorbed by the unroasted semolina.
Now add hot milk and stir with a spatula with another hand. Be careful as milk will froth up as you add. Once all milk is added the mixture becomes runny and liquidy.
Add almonds, cashews, and raisins at this time.
Keep stirring and cooking, the mixture will start to thicken in minutes. Semolina will absorb all the liquid and becomes fluffy and the mixture becomes thick and leaves the sides of the pan.
Add sugar and cardamom seeds powder. Mix, as the sugar melts the mixture becomes loose again.
Keep stirring and cooking until it becomes thick and the ghee will ooze out from all sides. Sheera is ready, turn off the stove.
Notes
Adding rava to hot ghee is a crucial step. This way semolina will puff up nicely and result in a fluffy texture. So never add rava into warm or room temperature ghee.
Roasting semolina is an important step to get the best texture of sheera. Roast with stirring continuously until they are light, fluffy, slightly golden, and aromatic.
Low-medium heat: During the entire sheera making process, keep the heat low-medium. If you have kept the heat medium to high, semolina will get color soon without being properly roasted.
Stir constantly: Whether it’s the semolina roasting process or after adding milk, or sugar you’ll need to stir constantly from start to finish. You can’t do other tasks simultaneously. Focus on making sheera only.
Milk temperature: Always add hot milk. Never add cold or room-temperature milk.