Pineapple Sheera / Pudding.

“Pineapple Sheera / Pudding” … Pineapple sheera or pudding prepared with jada lapsi / kano rulav / thick bansi rava … is a delicious dish prepared in almost every house. Today I prepared it for Naivedyam for Ananta Chaturdashi … Have a lovely Day … Enjoy ....… 

Throughout India pineapple dessert is very famous. Pineapple can be adapted in preparation of both sweets as well as spicy dishes too. But by large it is used for desserts. Sheera is a sweet dish prepared with rava / wheat cream almost in every house and addition of it is a common one throughout India. Today as I had a large pineapple sitting in my fridge, I decided to prepare pineapple sheera though I had already prepared Godu Appos / Sweet Paniyarams for Naivedyam as today being Anant Chaturdashi, it is the final day of pooja of Ganapati and it is visarjan day ie time to bid Lord Ganesha a tearful adieu / farewell with the desire of seeing him soon the following year. Today we Konkani Saraswats worship Lord Ananta / Vishnu on SheshNag along with river Yamuna and it is a great festival for us which is then followed by 15 days of Pitra paksha when ther are no auspicious festival done as it is reserved to pay tribute to departed souls. Which is then again followed by Navaratri Maa Durga festival. So here is Pineapple Sheera which is very easy to prepare as Naivedyam and offer to God.

** Slice off the thick coarse skin part of the pineapple, and the eye’s that are prominent on the outside sweet flesh of the fruit. Cut them into two both vertically and horizontally. Now cut off the inner core part that is very hard and keep it aside. You can use it while preparing pineapple juice. And then chop the pineapple into pieces of about 1 inch. In all you should get about 6 cups of chopped pieces.

** Add ½ cup of homemade ghee in a pressure cooker pan, when it melts, add in 2 cups of thick wheat rava / jada lapsi / thick bansi rava along with a pinch of orange colour and fry for a few minutes. Now add in 4 cups of water and mix well. Cover and pressure cooker lid and cook on medium heat to 2-3 whistles. Let the pressure drop on in its own. Keep this ready aside.

** Add the pineapple pieces along with 1-2 cups of water in a thick bottomed kadai and bring to boil. Boil for 3-4 minutes. Now lower the heat to medium, cover with a dome lid and cook the pineapples till they are tender and ¾ th cooked. 

** Now add in the cooked lapsi / thick rava (broken wheat) and mix well. Cook on high heat till the water is almost absorbed. Now lower the heat and add in 2 cups of sugar. (Plus or Minus as per individual taste). 

** Now stir well all the contents in the kadai till all the sugar has dissolved and the sheera gets thickened and leaves the sides of the kadai, thickens and gets mixed well. Pineapple Sheera is done. Lastly add in ½ tsp of cardamom powder and mix well. Remove into a plate that is greased with ghee if you want to cut them into pieces or put them in a bowl if you want to serve them in small individual bowls. 

** “Pineapple Sheera / Pineapple Pudding” is done and ready to be offered to God as Naivedyam / Prasadam. You can also garnish the sheera with fried cashews and raisins. I have not as I prefer to retain the pineapple flavour intact. Share the Naivedyam with your family and friends. Remember Sharing is Caring and Naivedyams / Prasadams should always be distributed and shared among friends.