Orange (Santra) Sheera.

"Orange (Santra) Sheera" … A delicious orange flavored thodasa khatta thodasa meetHa sheera prepared in memory of my Father on his Birthday ……

This is actually a very old post. I had prepared this orange flavoured sheera in memory of my father Late Mangalpady Raghuveera Shenoy, Proprietor and Founder of The Bharath School Supplies And Vishwa Bharath Press, in Market Road, Mangalore, South Kanara District; on his Birthday. The recipe somehow has either got deleted or not been blogged.

Today one of my friend who went through my page pointed this out to me. I am completely blank as to how it happened, as the recipe is noted down in my file and shows posted mark. It really saddened my heart, to know the mess up as it was done with love for my dear father who always loved new innovative recipes. 

He always encouraged my Mom to prepare new dishes too. He would take Mom and us sisters to restaurants and have us taste new dishes and make us prepare them at home. He even once brought a cook from hotel to teach us the preparation of chicken curries and pulav etc. He was very fond of food and new recipes and always suggested and gave tips.

Anyways, thanks to my dear friend who does not wish to be mentioned here for bringing it to my knowledge and here is the recipe repeated again. I hope you enjoy preparing the same. 

Cut into half 5-6 Ripe Oranges and Squeeze out the juice on a citrus fruit juices. Sieve and keep it aside. You should have at least 2 cups of fresh orange juice. Do not add water.

In a thick bottomed Kadai heat 1/2 cup of ghee, when the ghee melts and becomes thin add one cup of Bombay Rava / fine raw (Not the very fine one used for chiroti) and fry for some time till the rawness goes and you get a nice aroma. Add a pinch of orange colour and mix well. This takes about 10 minutes. Keep stirring with a spatula so that the rava does not stick to the bottom and get burnt. 

While stirring the rava keep 2 Cups of water to boil, when it comes to a good boil add it to the rava and bring to boil, then lower and cook till all the water get evaporated. Add in 1 cup of sugar and stir well, add more or less as per your taste but I always find that 1:1 ratio of rava and sugar gives good results for sheera. Once the sugar has melted add in the orange juice to it and cook till done. You can add orange flavour if desired. I have not.

Stir the mixture evenly so that no lumps are formed. The rava cooks fast so you should stir it really well quickly. Keep mixing till the sheera leaves the sides of the kadai. The sheera is done. Mx well and remove from heat.

Pour the mixture into a plate / tray to which ghee has been applied all over from inside. Spread evenly with the spatula and level the sheera nicely. Cool a bit. With a blunt knife put cuts on the sheera to make them into diamond shape (or any shape you desire). Once cooled you can gently remove the pieces by inserting the blunt knife and loosening it to remove it from the plate. 

Serve Sheera Hot or Cold as per your liking. Tastes great when served cold as it has orange flavour from the juice added to it. You can also serve sheera with poori, the combo is very much to children’s liking.