Sooji Halwa

Sooji Halwa is made on several occasions especially on Navratri festival and Krishnashtami as prasad.
It is a sweetdish so it is best eaten by itself, however it is wonderful when combined with Poori and chana.
I remember as a kid we used to be invited to Kanjak which is performed on ashtami and navami of navratri wherein they carry out mata pooja and hold a seating for young girls ( 5 or 7 or 9 or 11 ) and are given poori, halwa, chana and some money or some small gift . I remember people used to give Rs 2 or Rs 5 in those days. It used to be lots of fun and earning for us girls on those 2 days.
Aah good old days !!! ~ sigh ~

Anyways, let me get back to the recipe of Halwa.

Ingredients:

• Sooji ( Semolina ) - 1 cup
• Milk / Water / Milk+Water - 2 1/2 cups
• Ghee ( Clarified Butter ) - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Saffron - a pinch ( optional )
• Cardamom Powder - a pinch
• Almonds, Raisins, Cashew Nuts , Pistachios - for garnish

Directions:

• Mix sugar and cardamom powder in water/milk and bring it to boil to make a syrup. ( you can either use water entirely or milk entirely or even mix the both of them in any proportion ).
• Turn off the heat , add saffron and keep aside.
• In a pan , heat ghee, roast all the nuts except pistachios just for half a minute till they slightly change color. Remove from ghee and keep aside for garnishing at the end.
• In the same ghee , add sooji and roast till golden brown color on medium heat. Keep Stirring to avoid burning.
• Slowly add the sugar syrup to the roasted sooji while stirring and let it cook till all the water is absorbed. This will not take more that 2 minutes. So keep stirring.
• Garnish with the roasted nuts and raw pistachios.
• Eat warm or at room temperature.