Banana Sheera

Banana sheera or simply sheera is a much loved Indian dessert found in various avatars across our land. Different states and regions imparts a unique subtlety to this dish which gives us umpteen recipe options to try out from.

I have grown up eating this dessert known as sheera, in Maharashtra. Some flavour it with bananas, some with pineapple, some with just nuts and saffron. The recipe too gets tweaked across India but and no matter where and how it is prepared, its flavour is just out of this world.

Years later, when I moved to Bengaluru, I tried this same dessert known in that part of the land as Rava Kesari. I never made Rava Kesari at home but always relished it in the numerous breakfast joints of Bengaluru. A bright orange coloured rawa pudding glistening in ghee and served along with the savoury upma (the combo is known as Khara Bhaat) became my son's favourite dish too!

Sheera or rawa kesari or call it sooji ka halwa - whatever be the name of the preparation - the basic ingredients remain the same: Rawa/Sooji, Sugar, Ghee, Milk/Water, Cardamom and lots of Love :) Getting the ratios of these ingredients right is the key to the success of this dish.

This is how I prepare it at home:

Ingredients for Banana Sheera:

• Roasted Regular Rawa: 1 cup (Do not use the chiroti rawa or the very fine kind of rawa)

• Sugar: 3/4 cup

• Bananas: Two, peeled and chopped roughly (optional). ( The riper the bananas, the better they taste) Ghee: 3/4 cup (in its usual semi-solid state)

• Ghee-Fried or Roasted Nuts: Cashews, Raisins and sometimes a spoon or two of Almond powder

• Warm Milk- 2 cups

• Cardamom powder: 1 tsp

• Saffron - a generous pinch soaked in 2 tbsp of warm milk (optional)

Method for making Banana Sheera:

Melt the ghee in a kadhai and add the rawa to it. Fry it for a few minutes on medium heat till the ghee coats all the grains and you get a nice aroma. Now add the chopped bananas to the kadhai. Mash it with the back of the spoon and blend it well in the rawa-ghee mixture.

Once the aroma of this preparation wafts through your kitchen - this will take around 6 to 7 minutes with stirring on a medium flame- add the fried or roasted nuts to it. Then add the warm milk, stir it well and cover the kadhai with a lid.

If you are adding saffron, then add it along with milk in this step. Mix it well again after a couple of minutes and allow the rawa to get cooked and fluffy. This will take another 3 to 4 minutes.

Lastly, add the sugar and mix. Allow the sugar to melt in the kadhai and mix it well.

Just before switching off the flame, add the cardamom powder; mix it well and keep the kadhai covered for a couple of minutes to allow the aromas to seep in.

Voila, sheera is ready to be served! It is best eaten hot :)