Strawberry Sheera.

"Strawberry Sheera" ... Starting New Year 2019 with a sweet note ... Sharing my delicious Naivedyam with all my friends here ... No new year resolutions for me ... I believe in "Live and Let Live there is plenty of place in this beautiful world for all ... Just give in your 200% best and leave the rest to God" ... Thanking all my friends for being a constant support through my Culinary Journey ... Happy New Year 2019 ... May this year bring in good health and loads of prosperity into your homes ... Stay Blessed-Spread Happiness ......

** Sheera is a sweet dish I have posted many times in different flavors and it really needs no introduction. The traditional dessert sheera, a golden colored sweet dish is prepared almost in every Indian home and is also known as Sooji Halwa in most parts of India, Rava Sheera in western India, Rava Kesari in southern parts and by and large in Konkani homes it’s just called just “Sheera”. The most common one prepared as Naivedyam / Prasadam / offering to God in Hindu homes that is loved by young and old alike. Many people relish this with poori and the combo of poori with sheera is another common one in southern parts. Preparing sheera with twists, by adding on different flavors, especially fruit based one’s are my most favorite challenges in preparation of sheera. I have prepared the ones with pomegranate, mango, saffron, chikoo, orange, butter scotch, jambul, banana etc. 

** In fact today’s post of “Strawberry Sheera” is a delicious sweet dessert that is prepared by me at least once in a few years during the strawberry season as Naivedyam. Today being New Year, Ekadashi and Tuesday, I prepared this dessert as  for Naivedyam as I had lots of strawberries lying in my fridge and I really did not want to drink anymore of strawberry milkshake as the winter has set in, bringing in chill in air and shakes taste good only when you drink it chilled. Sheera as you all know is very easy to prepare and you hardly can go wrong preparing it. Children love them, especially if you give them to relish it with poori. Well, I have not prepared any poori, but you can do so and serve this one as sheera-poori which tastes simply awesome, maybe I will do so tomorrow if at all the sheera remains, which is a very rare case in my home. Do try this one, I am sure your family and friends will love the same, it tastes really delicious and is very easy to prepare. 

** Here is my Simple Recipe to "Strawberry Sheera" … My Style …. 

** Ingredients : 

Bombay Rava / Sooji / Bombai Rulavu : ½ cup (Regular one) 

Barik Lapsi / Mangalore Rava / Bansi Rava : ½ cup 

Sugar / Shakkar : 1.5 cups (+/- depending upon individual taste) 

Ghee / Toop : ½ cup (Fresh homemade if possible)

Strawberry Puree : ¾ to 1 cup (Thickened) 

Strawberry Pieces : ½ cup 

Water : 2.5 To 3 cups of boiling water. 

** Preparation of Strawberry Puree (Thickened) : Wash and trim off the top stem portion of the strawberries and cut them into pieces. You can prepare this in bulk and freeze them and use as and when necessary. I used about 65 large sized, bright colored ripe strawberries here as I want to prepare a few dishes using the same. Put them in a mixer grinder and grind to a smooth paste without the addition of any water. 

** Remove and put this in a thick bottomed kadai and add in about ½ cup of sugar and bring to a boil. Keep stirring till the quantity gets reduced a little bit and the puree is thick like that of sauce / ketchup in texture. Remove and allow to completely cool, before you put it in an airtight container and put it away in fridge if to be used within 3-4 days or in freezer if you need it later on. 

** Note : You can prepare the puree without the addition of puree to, personally I do not know exactly how it is prepared, but whenever I prepare puree when fruits are in excess and store them in freezer to avoid wastage, I add in a little bit of sugar, which I find helpful in maintaining both color and the flavor in the puree. 

** To Prepare the Strawberry Sheera : In a thick bottomed Kadai heat ghee, when the ghee melts and becomes thin add in the both bansi rava and the Bombay rava and fry well for some time on medium heat till the rawness goes and you get a nice aroma or very slightly browned. This takes about 8-10 minutes. Keep stirring with a spatula so that the rava does not get burnt. This step is important to get a tasty sheera. 

** Once the rava is fried well, lower the heat to minimum and slowly add in the prepared strawberry puree and the pieces and mix well, finally add in the boiling water. Be careful when you add the water as it splutter a bit, so stay far and pour little slowly and not in one go. Mix well so that there are no lumps. Bansi rava takes some time to cook while Bombay rava cooks faster. So, allow to cook well, stirring really well quickly, to prevent formation of lumps. You should use a large handled spatula, to avoid burning your hand if you are new to preparing of sheera. 

** Once the rava has cooked and the water has almost dried up add in sugar and stir well, keepin the heat to minimum. Add more or less keeping in mind sweetness preference in your home. However, I add that which is mentioned as I like my sheera sweet, but not too sweet and this measurement gives it right. Also here since the strawberries are slightly khatta ie tart in flavor addition of little bit more of sugar gives you a tastier sheera. Mix well and let the sugar and rava both are cooked together till done and there is no moisture left and it sort of leaves the sides. 

** Prepare and keep ready a tray / plate to which melted ghee has been smeared evenly prior to starting the sheera process. Once strawberry sheera is done, pour the mixture into a plate and spread evenly with the back of the spatula or a tumbler to the back of which a little bit of ghee has been applied and level the sheera nicely. Addition of ghee to the bottom of glass and helps giving a leveled finished surface on top to the sheera when rolled over with the same. Keep aside the sheera and allow to cool a bit, once it is just warm enough with a blunt knife put cuts on the sheera to make them into square / diamond 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. 

** "Strawberry Sheera” is done and ready to be served. Tastes best when served cool or at room temperature with poori, a favorite combo, very much to children’s liking. Most of Konkani Saraswats prepare this as Naivedyam / Prasadam and offer it to God and then distribute among family members and friends. 

** Do try this out and enjoy with your family and friends, also keep a keen watch on my Blog for more delicious recipes this year and also remember to give me feedback. Do let me know if there is any particular recipe, that you would like to know and I will definitely share the same if I have knowledge of the same and somehow it has not been added on still. 

** Note : I have added both bansi rava and bombay rava in 1:1 ratio as fruit based sheera's I find turn out better in texture if done so. You can use either one exclusively as single ingredient too. By and large bombay rava / normal rava / bombai rulavu is added in preparation of sheera which gives awesome results for the traditional recipe preparation of sheera, so choose any you like, but just give this a try once, you will definitely like the spongy texture. 

** Note : I have not added in any type of nuts, as the strawberry flavor gets lost in doing so. I have added in plenty of both puree which is sort of concentrated by thickened procedure and pieces too and it tastes awesome as it is. You may add in nuts if you still desire the same, however I would not advice in doing so.

** Note : I have not added in any color as you can see in the picture the strawberries I had very bright red and very ripe and again since I cooked them to be thickened they turned more brighter on doing so. You may add in a drop of red color and also you can just add in a cup of ground puree too and need not thicken it.

** Note : Addition of color is a matter of choice, sometimes to enhance you may need to add on add times you can use certain substitutes to the same. For bringing in deeper red color you can use a piece of beetroot which gives natural deep red color to dishes. I have added a piece of beet while boiling the water till it turned deep red, discarded it and then used that water.  

** Note :  Do try to add in the given amount of ghee for the sheera and try not to cut down on the same. Though there are some of my friends who add little bit more too. Addition of homemade ghee imparts a lovely aroma and texture to the sheera which should not be curtailed here. Again do fry the rava well to get a perfect sheera and do not hurry in the process, if not fried properly you will get a mushy sort of sheera which is not so appealing.

** Note : I have posted many types / flavors of fruit based sheera before. I am sharing a common link below for Sheera, you can click on the same for more / different types of recipes of sheera and try out the same.

http://gayathrifoodbytes.blogspot.com/search?q=sheera

** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of different types in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it or have a query, please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Do try out various types of dishes included in the Blog and Enjoy them with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible. I have also started a food group for by the name "KONKANI DELICACIES" where in you will find many more recipes by members and you too can share some of your own. The link to the group is posted on the left side of the blog page. Do join us in our culinary journey. I strongly believe in Sharing and always endorse that "Sharing Is Caring" … Thank You ….