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This is my first Indian dessert I’m sharing! Gee, after years of recipe blogging, I finally got around to sharing a dessert of my own culture! Phew! I really hope this was worth the wait!
To be honest with you I didn’t really start making Indian desserts till probably a year or so ago! Maybe I’ve said this before, but I don’t make desserts much. I put my heart and soul into dinners and main courses that I’m usually just too exhausted to be making a dessert!
But I certainly do have a sweet tooth! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see I love having some chocolate treats at the end of the day! See, however, those are just nibbles of chocolate or cake or a nice wafer. I quite am a chocoholic! When do I actually take the time to make myself a nice sweet treat though?
Well, there’s special occasions. Christmas, my birthday… Yes, I made myself a cake for my own birthday! I wanted to, okay! I made a mousse cake with whipped cream, where the mousse was inspired by Chef Ludo Lefebvre and the whipped cream was my whipped cream recipe. If you’re interested in making your own whipped cream, be sure to check out my Best Homemade Whipped Cream recipe! Get ready to whisk by hand, or just use a stand mixer to make life easier! You can also make whipped cream using a whipped cream dispenser.
I’ve also made some molten chocolate lava cakes. They’re a popular dessert at the restaurant I used to work at, and I was so inspired to make them myself! There was a time I literally made a half dozen, so I had them all prepped for a couple of days, just waiting for me in my fridge! Oh my are those good!
I’ve also made some chocolate mousse for my wife’s birthday (that Ludo Lefebvre recipe really is tremendous and I totally recommend you try it out!) and again I’ve made mousse out of spontaneity. I love chocolate mousse. Yes, you’re seeing a pattern here! I have a dear place in my heart for creamy desserts!
The discussion about being too exhausted to make desserts has come up with a lot of followers of mine. The solution (and perhaps you know this already): make the dessert BEFORE the dinner! No excuses then, right! Of course that’s not always possible, but usually it is! Every time I have at least prepared dessert first, I was always thankful I did!
What about desserts from my actual culture though, you may be wondering? Yeah, I never made anything till literally a couple of months ago with the exception of kheer, a rice pudding. Even making kheer was a very rare occurrence though! I didn’t make my first kheer till four or five years of living in Canada.
Let me tell you something about Indian desserts now that I’ve got some experience making some - from gulab jamun to barfi - they’re quite time-consuming! Not many ingredients are needed (contrary to some Indian main dishes, haha!), but oh my you really gotta put in some work, and they’re quite delicate! They can be tricky! I think I did all right for my first attempt making gulab jamun and barfi, but those could seriously be improved.
Because these are quite involved - but tasty! - treats, these were never made at home. My family and I enjoyed these delights at restaurants! However, kheer and halwa are among the simpler desserts, so these are classics among Indian households!
Whenever my sister and I did crave a homemade dessert, my mom resorted to halwa. There are only four key ingredients, and you can make this in about 20-25 minutes or so! Despite its simplicity, it totally felt special to us!
As much of a chocoholic I am, this dish certainly has a dear place in my heart, and I’m excited to be sharing this amazing dessert with you today! So let’s get to it!
What is Sooji Halwa?▼
In Hindi, this translates to “semolina pudding.” “Sooji” (or suji) means “semolina,” and “halwa” means “pudding.” There are many types of halwa. Another common halwa is ghajar ka halwa, or carrot halwa. That’s an awesome way to sneak in some veggies for those picky eaters!
If you’ve seen my South Indian Upma recipe, you’ll notice that in English I call it a “Savoury Semolina Pudding.” While these recipes aren’t related at all, you’ve got a savoury semolina pudding or a sweet one, depending on what you’re feeling!
As you’ll see, this recipe is super simple. What’s great about this dessert is that you can easily adjust the measurements to make a lot of it to serve for a crowd. This dish is often served with puris - puffy bread made with atta flour fried in ghee - and is often prepared during the Navratri festival. To be honest, we never actually had this during Navratri. We literally just had it whenever, and you can too! This quick dessert will certainly feel special on any casual day!
Furthermore, this is awesome because you can serve hot or cold. If you make a large batch, you can try serving it hot or cold and see what your preference is. I enjoy my halwa piping hot, so hot that I burn my tongue!
Tips for the Best Sooji Halwa
- Take your time to roast the semolina until you get some color on it. This is important to add flavor and to make the final dish look appetizing.
- Don’t leave the pan/wok unattended for more than 10-15 seconds, or you will risk burning the semolina.
- Adding the warm milk-sugar mixture helps ensure the milk doesn’t splatter all at once and will keep you safe. Plus it helps mixing the milk with the semolina easier!
- I would recommend adding less sugar to start with and then add more towards the end. You can always add more but you can’t take it out.
- This dish is yummy served hot or cold so try both and you won’t be disappointed.
Ingredients Needed
You’ll love how short and sweet this ingredient list is! Let’s go over what we’ll need:
- Semolina: The core ingredient of course! This is the base of our pudding.
- Milk & water: Some recipes use only water, but I like the creaminess of milk. I’m going to use 1% milk since that’s what I had, but you can certainly use 2% milk (to be honest I would have but I forgot I purchased it for this recipe and I didn’t!!) or whole milk for even more creaminess.
- Ghee: Used to toast the semolina.
- Sugar: Sugar makes this pudding sweet. Feel free to substitute sugar with your favorite sweetener, though! You could use maple syrup or honey for natural sweeteners, or even use stevia or Splenda! I just felt like using sugar to make this classic, and it is the most commonly used sweetener to make semolina halwa, but any type of sweetener will work!
- Ground green cardamom: This is the little touch I felt like adding here. A small amount of ground green cardamom will bring on a wonderful fragrant flavor to your halwa!
- Cashews: Roasted with the semolina. You can use any dried fruit or nuts of your choice, but my favorite choice is cashews.
Optionally, you could also add a few strands of saffron along with the milk to add more aromatics to your halwa.
How to Make Semolina Halwa
Note that the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE is at the bottom of this post! Keep scrolling to save this for later!
- Add milk, water and sugar to a pot/saucepan and bring up to a simmer. Stir occasionally to ensure mixture doesn't boil over or burn.
- Once hot, set heat to low to keep warm and prepare to roast the semolina.
- Add ghee to a pan/wok on medium heat. Add semolina, mix well and start to roast on medium to medium-high heat. At this point, add cashews or another of your favorite dried fruit/nut to the semolina, along with ground green cardamom.
- Continue to toast until semolina becomes light brown while stirring constantly.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the warm milk-sugar mixture in 3-4 batches to the pan/wok with the roasted semolina and keep mixing.
- Once most of the milk has been absorbed, taste and adjust for sweetness. You may serve right away if you desire a loose texture, or continue mixing until your desired consistency.
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