"Naivedyam: Chickoo Khajoor Sheera/ Sapota Dates Sheera topped with roasted cashew nuts and melon seeds" ... sheera is a favorite of all and when you add on some fruits to flavor it tastes that much tastier ... an humble offering to God as prasadam on festive day ... Jai Guru Ganesha ...
** It is always a joy to prepare something special as an offering to God on festive days and the period of chaturmasa gives plenty of such occasions. For a few years now I have been trying sheera with inclusion of fruits for flavors and they have always turned out great, not to mention many have followed suit, I can see the trend on net for sure. The first time I mentioned I became the laughing stock in my family, so the next time I made it a point to offer it directly and they were totally amazed. One should think out of the box and try different options, after all it is food, you can always make variations in trials to come out with the best outcome. Fear sets boundaries, break those barriers and go ahead, you will definitely get satisfaction with successful results.
** As I mentioned, I have prepared many real fruit flavored sheera to date. Some of them are pomegranate, mango, saffron etc. while many more are lined up to be done over years. Before you question why years? well, I prepare sweet dishes on festive days only, so as and when I come across, I will do so as a humble offering. This one is another one in similar lines. Chickoo/Sapota is a sweet fruit and addition of khajoor/ dates which is also sweet gives you the advantage of reducing sugar in sheera. I have hardly added any sugar in this recipe, which otherwise become a must for both taste and texture. The sheera really turned out sweet and soft and was a pleasure to have as it is. You can serve it with some plain or thekha meetha poori too, tastes great with it.
** Peel off the outer skin of 5-6 large sized ripe chickoos/ sapota with a sharp knife, cut them into half, remove the center white pith and the seeds and discard them. Cut the ripe portions into small pieces. Put it in mixer with ½- 1 cup of water and blend well to a fine puree. Remove and keep it aside ready to be used..
** For Topping : Roast together handful of cashew nut pieces and melon seeds in equal proportion and keep aside ready. You can roast them on a thick bottomed tava or on microwave too. I often microwave the nuts and store them in fridge in an air tight container as it falls handy to be used when and needed curtailing on time.
** In a thick bottomed Kadai heat 1 cup of toop/ ghee, when the ghee melts and becomes thin add one cup of "Bombay Rava/ Rulavu" (Not the very fine one used for chiroti) and fry for some time on medium heat till the rawness goes and you get a nice aroma. This takes about 10-15 minutes. Do not raise the heat and do keep stirring with a spatula so that the rava does not get burnt which spoils the sheera.
** While stirring the rava keep 2 Cups of water to boil. Make a center well in the rava and pour in the hot water slowly, I do it this way, as if you pour the hot water directly on top of the rava altogether it splutters causing a mess. Also keep the heat low when adding water. Mix well as as you add in the hot water so that there are no lumps formed. The rava cooks up very fast so you should stir it all really quickly and carefully.
** Once the rava has cooked and the water has almost dried up add in ¼- ½ cup of sugar/ shakkar/ sakkara and stir well, add more or less as keeping in mind sweetness of both chickoo and dates. Mix well and let the sugar and rava both get cooked together till done and there is not moisture left. Now add in the prepared chickoo puree and the dates/ khajoor syrup and mix well. Keep stirring well all the ingredients on low heat till the chickoo dates sheera is done leaves the sides of the kadai.
** Note : I have added ready made "dates/ khajoor syrup" available in the market. In mumbai it is easily available in malls or stores and I always store it as not only do we love it but it falls very handy in preparation of cakes, ice creams, sheera, desserts etc. In fact I even serve it with panpolo/ neer dosa instead of godda ravo, tastes wonderful. However, If not available or you would not like to purchase, do not worry, just soak 1 cup of seedless dates/ Khajoor cut into small pieces in 1 cup of hot water for 15-20 minutes and then grind to a smooth paste with the water in which it is soaked in a mixer grinder. Strain it through a fine sieve and its ready to be used.
** Pour the mixture into a plate/ tray to which ghee has already been applied all over from inside and kept ready. (The plate should be greased and kept ready before you begin to prepare the sheera). Spread sheera evenly with the spatula and level it nicely with the back of a tumbler to which you should apply a little bit of ghee. When you pat it well on the surface of sheera you will get a even surface without any cracks.
** Sprinkle roasted cashew and melon seeds on top of the sheera and roll with a rolling pin to press it down on the sheera, so that they stick to the sheera in a even layer. Leave the sheera aside for sometime to let it cool a bit, say 5-8 minutes. Now with a blunt knife make insersions/ cuts on the sheera to make them into square shape (or any shape you desire). Once completely cooled you can gently remove the pieces by inserting the blunt knife and loosening it to remove it from the plate.
** "Chickoo Khajoor Sheera/ Sapota Dates Sheera topped with roasted cashew nuts and melon seeds" is done and ready to be offered to God as Naivedyam/ Prasadam. You can serve it hot or cold as per individual liking, though in my home we prefer at room temperature. Sheera served with poori is a great combination often come across in southern parts of India. My uncle always loved to relish it that way and I followed it a few times and loved it too, trust me it tastes wonderful. You too can serve it with poori as it is very much to children’s liking and also makes you rest assured of having made them consume some fruits otherwise which children fuss about with.
** Sharing a common link below to all "Sheera" recipes included in the blog, there are many flavors and they all taste great ... try them and enjoy with family and friends ....
https://gayathrifoodbytes.blogspot.com/search?q=sheera
** I also prepared "Chickoo Khajoor Appo/ Sapota Dates Paniyarams" along with this sheera as an offering to God on festive occasion, which you can see in the picture shared above, sharing link to the appo recipe below, you can try out the same too and offer it also as naivedyam or try it out on any other day too ....
Yummm recipe!! Very innovative and healthy recipe.
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