Sooji ka Halwa (Semolina Pudding)

This Sooji (or Suji) ka halwa is a classic Pakistani/Indian dessert made with semolina. Suji ka halwa is famously eaten in brunches and is super easy to whip up. You only need 20 minutes and beginner-level skills! Bonus: It’s a one-pot dish!

What is Sooji ka Halwa?

Halwa means “sweet” in Arabic, and the same in South Asian culture. Halwas can be made from carrots, eggs, or nuts. Sooji ka halwa is made with fine semolina. There is more than one type of halwa that can be made with Sooji. There are Sooji bars and caramelized Sooji halwa. This halwa recipe is of the dhaba-style halwa that is commonly eaten in desi brunches.

Sooji ka halwa is a pet favorite in every brown household and one of the easiest Pakistani desserts to master. Ironically, we South Asians eat it for breakfast with puris (fried bread), aloo tarkari (potato curry) and chanay(chickpea curry). But of course, on occasions, we’d consume it as is, which is a dessert.

Jump to:

• What is Sooji ka Halwa?
• Ingredients
• How to make Suji ka halwa?
• Expert Tips
• Frequently Asked Questions
• More Desi Desserts for you to try
• sooji ka halwa

Ingredients

You need very few ingredients to make this recipe

• Semolina
  I use fine Semolina for Sooji ka halwa as a personal preference. Coarse semolina will taste pretty much the same, differing only in a more grainy texture that it will have.
• Ghee
  Ghee is the main fat used in all Pakistani halwas. You can use good quality butter if you don’t have ghee.
• Cardamom pods – The green cardamom is the Western equivalent of Vanilla essence. You’ll find it in most of the desi desserts. It adds aroma and a subtle flavor characteristic of Pakistani/Indian food.
• Full-fat Milk powder – This secret ingredient at the end of the halwa makes all the difference between a good and an EXCELLENT halwa. It adds depth of flavor to the halwa without any excessive liquid. If you have none, use evaporated milk or heavy cream instead.
• Food color – The restaurant-style suji halwa has a characteristic amber-yellow color. I use regular powder food coloring (which I use for biryani) for this halwa. You can use bloomed saffron too, or skip coloring entirely if you like.
• Other aromatics (optional) – This recipe doesn’t need it but some people like adding rose water, or saffron to the halwa.
• Garnish – Nuts! Any halwa is incomplete without a good garnish on top. Chop or slice your favorite nuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, etc, or add in whole as well.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

How to make Suji ka halwa?

Traditionally, this halwa is made by preparing a sticky sugar syrup separately and roasting the semolina separately. But through trial and error, I realized, hey it can be wayyy simpler than that! Here it is, my one-pot Suji ka halwa.

I’ve put together all the steps in a simple pictorial for you to see how easy this is to make.

NOTE: We don’t want semolina to change its color to brown (that gives you a different kind of Suji halwa). So avoid over-roasting for more than 5 minutes.

NOTE: When you stir your halwa at the end, you’ll notice that it leaves the sides of the pot and sticks together cohesively. That’s how you know your halwa is done.

Serve your halwa warm. Top it off with almond shavings or pistachio crumbs and serve with either puri in breakfast or as a dessert.

Expert Tips

• This is a very forgiving Sooji halwa. If you do a taste test at the end, and you feel like its not as sweet as you like, simply add more sugar, and cook for another 3 minutes.
• You can also add more food color (if you are not happy) in the end by mixing color in a little bit of milk and drizzling it all over.
• Sooji halwa always thickens up as it cools down so if you feel your halwa is too runny, just wait it out. And avoid the urge to cook it down more. We also want the halwa to be a little runny to be eaten with puris.

Frequently Asked Questions

I posted this recipe on Instagram and tiktok first, which is great! because now I can put up questions here that I generally go with this recipe.

More Desi Desserts for you to try

I respect the time, ingredients, and effort you spend on cooking. On my part, I’ve tested and tried my recipe over 20 times before giving it to you, these dessert recipes are fool-proof.

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!