sooji ka halwa

4.78 from 18 votes

A traditional Pakistani / Indian sweet semolina halwa or pudding, eaten as a dessert or paired with puris (fried bread)

Cook Time18

Total Time18

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: South Asian

Servings: servings

Calories: 278kcal

Author: Wajiha

In a thick base cooking pot, add ghee and cardamom. Keep at medium-low heat on the stove for 2 minutes.
Reduce the heat to low and add semolina. Roast the semolina till it absorbs all the ghee. Now roast for 5 mins making sure the semolina doesn't burn or change color. If it starts to change color sooner than 5 mins, proceed to the next step immediately.
Add 1/2 cup of water to the semolina and saute until fully absorbed.
Add another cup of water, stir well to avoid clumps, and let the semolina fully absorb the water.
Now add the remaining water, food color and sugar. Mix to combine everything well.
Cover the pot and let it simmer at medium heat for 5 mins.
Turn the heat to low and cook for another 5 mins.
Stir the halwa around for about a minute and add milk powder. Stir for another 2 minutes.
Turn off the heat, and sprinkle chopped pistachios, almonds, or walnuts.
Suji halwa is served hot with breakfast or as dessert.

Milk powder is the secret ingredient creating depth of flavor. If you have none, use evaporated milk or heavy cream instead.
This recipe doesn’t need it but some people like adding rose water, or saffron to the halwa.
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.
This is a very forgiving Sooji halwa. If you do a taste test at the end, and you feel like it's 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.
This halwa stays fresh in the fridge for 3 to 4 days and reheats in the microwave very well.
You can freeze the halwa for up to a month.