ANANAS SHEERA PINEAPPLE SOOJI HALWA

Ananas Sheera is a very popular Maharastrian Indian dessert especially made during special poojas, religious rituals or fasting days etc. It is a delicious halwa made with sooji, sugar, ghee and flavoured with pineapple pieces. The dish gives an amazing fruity flavour and is a delight to the palate. Pineapple is a juicy fruit with wonderful tropical flavours. It’s a versatile fruit and is used in making various mouth-watering and exotic sweet and savoury dishes like Ananas Kadi (pineapple kadi – a typical Maharashtrian dish), spicy pineapple fried rice, pineapple curry, pineapple cheese sticks, pineapple pastry, pineapple squash and lots more.

Ananas Sheera, a popularly cooked dessert in Maharashtra is a similar dish to the Pineapple Rava Kesari in southern India. This dish is known by many names like Pineapple Sheera, Pineapple halwa, Pineapple Rava Kesari or Kesari bhath in northern Karnataka especially Bangalore. Sheera is an exotic dish prepared with adding generous dollops of ghee to the sooji (semolina) and nicely roasted until it becomes flavourful and cooked either with milk or water, sweetened with sugar. It is then flavoured with cardamom powder, saffron and garnished with good amount of crispy nuts like cashew nuts, almonds and raisins. Ananas Sheera is one very popular Indian sweet among the various other halwas made with sooji.

An exotic colourful fruity delight that is low in calories (forget the ghee for onceJ) yet very tasty. Fresh pineapple puree perks up the flavour; however it needs to be cooked with sugar to get the real flavour. As pineapple has a natural sweetness, its sweetness and fruity flavour highlights the taste of this dish. Ananas Sheera is highly nutritious and recommended for kids. The sharp taste and light chunky texture of pineapple give your dessert a fresh touch. This sheera can be served either warm or chill but naturally tastes best when served warm and topped with tons of crispy nuts. The sheera just melts into the mouth when served warm coz the silkiness of ghee just makes the halwa slips into your throat.

Sooji Halwa is one of the most traditional and basic Indian sweet desserts that can be cooked in a jiffy and served as Prasad in most Gurudwara, temples etc. The aromas and fragrance lingering from the roasted sooji in ghee gets each one of our mouth watering and glow into a festive mood.  Adding the pineapple elevates the flavours and the taste is par excellence. The effort put to prepare this dish is minimal with just few ingredients but makes a delectable and luscious sweet dish.

Pineapple may be consumed fresh, canned, juiced, and are found in a wide array of food stuffs – dessert, fruit salad, jam, yogurt, ice cream, candy, and as a complement to meat dishes. The pulp and juice of pineapples are used in cuisines around the world. In many tropical countries, pineapple is prepared, and sold on roadsides as a snack. Freshly cut pineapple pieces sprinkled with little chaat masala or spices is served as an amazing fruit salad in most street stalls. They are also sold whole, or in halves with a stick inserted. Whole, cored slices with a cherry in the middle are a common garnish on hams in the West.

In western countries, chunks of pineapple are not only used in desserts such as fruit salad, but also as a main ingredient in savoury dishes, such in hamburgers, and as a pizza topping. Crushed pineapple is used in yogurt, jam, sweets, and ice cream. The juice of the pineapple is served as a beverage, and is also as a main ingredient in such cocktails as the Piña colada. The internal juicy flesh may range from creamy white to yellow and has a mix of sweet and tart taste with rich flavour.

To prepare this yummy and juicy Ananas Sheera, heat ghee in a pan and when it gets hot enough, add sooji and fry it over low flame until well roasted and the raw flavours are gone. Add hot milk and mix slowly. Cook until the sooji absorbs all the milk.

Add sugar, raisins, almonds and cashew nuts and mix all the ingredients well. Add grated pineapple and mix well. Add cardamom powder, mix and cook on a slow flame till you find traces of ghee oozing out from the mixture. Switch off the flame The Ananas sheera is ready.

Tip - If you add cold milk to the sooji, it can form lumps, hence add hot milk. You can add saffron colour if you desire. Do try this exotic and wonderful Indian sweet, kids would surely love eating this.

Watch the making of this dish at:

https://www.vahrehvah.com/ananas-sheera-pineapple-sooji-halwa

Fresh pineapple is low in calories. Nonetheless, ii is a storehouse of several unique health promoting compounds, minerals and vitamins that are essential for optimum health. Its flesh contains no saturated fats or cholesterol; however, it is rich source of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber like pectin. Fresh pineapple is an excellent source of antioxidant & vitamin C.

In addition, this fruit is rich in B-complex group of vitamins like folates, thiamin, pyridoxine, riboflavin and minerals like copper, manganese and potassium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids, helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Copper is a helpful cofactor for red blood cell synthesis. Manganese is a co-factor for the enzyme superoxide dismutase, which is a very powerful free radical scavenger.

Enjoy Cooking!