Sheera

The recipe of Sheera given here resembles to Satyanarayan Prasad sheera, however the quantity used in that Sheer  is 1 & 1/4 cup of each ingredient. I have used less quantity of ghee here and also roasted semonlina before cooking it in ghee. Hence the colour is slightly brownish. If you roast sheera directly in ghee, then you get that offwhite colour. 

Further, I have mainly  used almonds, but you may add other dry fruits like Sultanas, cashews, pistachios etc. 

Ingredients :

1 cup semolina

1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup ghee + 1 tbspn ghee
1/2 cup banana pieces
1/4 cup blanched almonds
1 tspn cardamom powder
5-6 strings saffron (soaked in milk) (I missed this in my preparation)
1 tspn milk masala (This is also optional)

Preparation :

Roast semolina in a  pan and keep aside.
Mix water and milk in a vessel and keep it on flame for heating
Heat ghee in a pan
Add roasted semolina in it
Cook semolina in it for 5-8 minutes
Then add cut almonds or dry fruits of your choice t
Then add boiling water and milk mixture to it
Immediately cover the pan with lid
Allow it to cook for 5 - 7minutes
Remove lid and break lumps if any.
Then add sugar and chopped banana to it
Again cover it with lid
Cook till semolina is soft
Lastly sprinkle cardamom powder over it
Pour 1 tbspn of pure ghee over the cooked sheera  to give nice aroma (Optional)
Garnish it with chopped almonds, or milk masala
Serve hot

Note :
1. Semolina should be roasted till you feel light weight to hands
2. Another test to check whether there is aroma of semolina in the next room.

Stepwise pictures :

 

Raw Banana Tikki

This weekend I wanted to make some healthy and low fat snacks. But this Tikki cannot be classified into low fat category as it is made from raw bananas. However, I have tried to use minimum oil in order to bring down the calorie count. 

Ingredients :

2 cups raw bananas (steamed and mashed)

1/2 cup boiled and mashed potato

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/2 cup finely chopped capsicum

2-3 tbspns corn flour (optional)

1/2 cup chopped corriander

1/2 tspn ginger paste

1 tspn green chilly paste

1 tspn cumin powder

1 tspn garam masala

1 tspn lemon juice

1 tspn sugar

1 cup fine semolina (Rawa)

Salt to taste

Oil for shallow fry

Preparation :

Apply salt and lemon juice to carrots and capsicum and set it aside for 15-20 minutes

This process will release some water from it.

Now add mashed bananas, potatoes and chopped corriander to it

Add ginger paste, chilly paste, cumin powder, garam masala, and salt to it.

Mix it and knead it into a hard dough

If required, add some cornflour for binding (optional)

Grease hands with little oil and make small sized tikkis of the dough

Roll it into semolina

Grease pan with 1-2 tbspns of oil

Place tikkis over the pan

Cook it for approx. 10 minutes over medium flame

Turn it and again cook it

Serve it with tomato ketchup

Notes :

1.You may adjust the proportion of spices given according to your taste. For eg. if you do not like tangy taste, then you may drop lemon juice from ingredients.

2. You may add vegetables of your choice like boiled green peas, boiled sweet corns, etc.

3. Adding Chaat Masala to this mixture will also enhance taste. Alternatively, it can be sprinkled over the tikkis at the time of serving.

Stepwise Pictures :