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Home » Dessert and Sweets » Sooji Halwa, traditional and authentic

March 30, 2020

Sooji Halwa, traditional and authentic

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Punjabi Sooji halwa/halva is a popular Indian/ Pakistani dessert served in breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is also called suji ka halwa. It tastes great alone too but it is amazing when paired with poori.

suji halwa or suji ka halwa served in a plate.

Punjabi halwa poori is just to Pakistani what donuts are to Americans; a yummy, happy start of the weekend. My kids just love it and having it on the weekend is a ritual for us and many people in Lahore and Karachi. It’s a day saver and can be made quickly for guests with simple ingredients that are always present in the Indian pantry.

Tips to make best sooji halwa

  • The best sooji ka halwa is soft, moist, not at all dry and lumpy.
  • The key to the best Punjabi halwa is properly roasted semolina.
  • What makes suji halwa soft is fully puffed semolina grains. To attain that cook sooji on low heat. Add more water if sooji water is dried and but not puffed.
  • The moist factor in sooji ka halwa comes from fat. The best fat to make suji is ghee or clarified butter. Halwa tastes and smells great with ghee. Another option is unsalted butter. Finally, you can make it in oil too but it will be a big compromise on taste. Do not try to reduce fat in the recipe as halwa is weight gain food. It is indulgent and there is no point making it low fat. Eat less but it should taste great.
  • Apart from these details, sooji halwa is very easy to make and it is great for toddlers and babies.

What is sooji ka halwa made of?

Sooji halwa is one of the easiest and quickest halwa. The ingredients are all staple in the Indian kitchen.

  • Semolina: Semolina is a coarse flour made from durum wheat. Durum wheat is different from whole wheat or common wheat. More about semolina here.
  • Ghee: is clarified butter used widely in South Asian cooking. Ghee can be substituted with unsalted butter.
  • Sugar
  • Cardamom: is an aromatic Indian spice. You can substitute cardamom with cloves or saffron.
  • Water

What is sooji in English?

In English sooji is called semolina. Semolina is an Italian word as semolina is used in Italian cooking to make dessert. Semolina flour is used to make pasta.

Sooji or suji is a Hindi / Urdu word. It is widely used in Pakistani and Indian Punjabi cooking. Semolina is also called rava in South India and suji/sooji in North India and Pakistan.

sooji halwa or sooji ka halwa served in a cup and a saucer.

How to make sooji halwa for babies?

I’m no expert in kid’s nutrition but I can provide basic guides while making sooji for babies. Always remember every child is different and has different digesting capabilities. Adjust his food as needed and introduce one thing at a time. Check more details about introducing sooji to babies here.

For 4-6 month babies, semolina is simply boiled in water. A little sugar or salt can be added to the flavor. As the baby grows and his tummy gets used to digesting it. You can add little milk and butter along with water after 8 months. Add milk to sooji only when you’ve already started giving cow’s or other milk to your baby and he can digest it.

When your baby is 1-year plus or has started to eat from your table, you can make sooji like this. Sautee a few tablespoon sooji in butter or ghee then add milk and sugar to sooji. Cook on very low heat for 10 minutes and add more milk if needed. Sooji should be fully puffed and soft. Cool sooji completely then feed the baby. You can store this sooji halwa in the fridge. Ideally, reheat and cool to room temperature before feeding the baby again.

Never add food color or saffron to sooji if making for young children. You can add fruits and veggies to make suji ka halwa more nutritious for the child. Again make sure you have already introduced the below food individually to the baby and you know he can digest it. Only then add it to sooji and make it more complex.

Other Variations:

When sooji is ready, you can add any of these foods to make halwa it tastier and to add a twist. These additions are great for babies and toddlers.

  • banana
  • mango
  • pineapple
  • marmalade of your favorite fruit, reduce sugar in halwa to adjust the sugar in marmalade.
  • orange zest (not recommended for babies)
  • desiccated coconut
  • sweet potato (less sugar will be added)
  • potato

Except for mango and marmalade, I have personally tried all variations, they all add more softness and add to the nutritional value of halwa along with flavors.

Looking for easy Indian desserts? Check these.

  • Carrot Halwa
  • Malida
  • Sheer Khurma (seviyaan)
  • Shahi Tukray (Indian bread pudding)
  • Kheer Poori (Indian rice pudding)
  • Lauki ki kheer (bottle gourd pudding)
  • Sev Amba (Mango Vermicelli)

How to make soft and moist Sooji Halwa

The suji ka halwa is super simple to make but a little variation can impact a huge difference in texture and taste.

Make sheera

Making sheera or sugar syrup is simple. Put all ingredients in the pot and boil it. When sugar melts sheera is ready. You can skip raisins if you’re not fond of it. Adding food color or not is a personal choice, traditionally it is added.

Add semolina to ghee.

Take any wide and thick based vessel. Heat ghee and add the cardamom and cloves. Let it crackle a bit then add the semolina. ( Cloves are optional here.)

The semolina is light golden at this stage.

Semolina is golden. At this stage add sheera, the sugar syrup.

Add sugar syrup to fried semolina to make punjabi halwa.

(In another popular method, sugar, water, and food color are added directly at this stage without making sheera. I recommend you to make sheera separately as it gives a smoother texture without a lot of stirring. As a downside, you need to wash one extra pot but it is totally worth it.)

sooji halwa is ready.

A succulent halwa is ready to enjoy. You can see the halwa is like a thick sauce at this stage. As it cools, sooji will absorb more water, and halwa will thicken. (If you like halwa don’t forget to rate this recipe.)

sooji halwa is ready.

 Sooji halwa recipe, soft and delicious

A super moist, traditionally and authentic sooji halwa that will steal your heart.
Click stars to rate this recipe!
5 from 4 votes
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Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings : 6 servings (about three cups)
Calories: 505kcal
Author: Mariam Sodawater

Ingredients

For Sheera (sugar syrup)

  • 1½ cup sugar , or more to taste
  • 3 tablespoon raisins , optional
  • 3 cups water
  • A pinch of yellow food color

For Semolina

  • ¾ cup clarified butter, (ghee), substitue with unsalted butter or oil
  • 3 cloves, (laung)
  • ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
  • 1 cup fine semolina, sooji

Garnish

  • 3-4 tablespoon pistachio and almonds, chopped

Instructions

Make Sheera

  • Boil water, sugar, food color and raisins in a vessel. When sugar dissolves completely. remove from heat and set aside.

Fry semolina

  • In another pot, heat clarified butter and fry cardomom powder, cloves and semolina. Fry until semolina color changes and fragrant. Semolina burns quickly so stir constantly.
  • Now, add sheera water in semolina pot. Cook for 10 minutes on very low heat so semolina puffs completely. Keep stirring and cook until oil separates from sides. (Sooji halwa should be runny and not lumpy. It will absorb more water upon cooling and thicken.)
  • Garnish with pistachio and almonds.
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Filed Under: Dessert and Sweets Tagged With: pakistani sooji halwa, sooji halwa for halwa poori

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. PROTEAN ME says

    April 10, 2019 at 12:38 pm

    Thanks for sharing your recipe. Looks yumm! I will definitely try it. However, you forgot to write when to add sugar in the method.

    Reply
    • Recipe 52 says

      April 10, 2019 at 12:39 pm

      Let me check.

      Reply
    • Recipe 52 says

      April 10, 2019 at 12:41 pm

      Add sugar along with water. I’ll update recipe. Thanks a lot for pointing out. ☺️

      Reply
  2. Umm-e-Aimen Taaha says

    January 24, 2017 at 2:42 am

    Never tried with clove, i will give it a try.
    Adding milk for small babies makes it more soft. Soji halwa is usually made on birthday as well as a tridition.

    Reply
    • Mariam Sodawater says

      January 24, 2017 at 8:03 am

      Thanks a lot, I’ll post another recipe of sooji halwa with pineapple in that post I have mentioned the waras tradition. ?

      Reply

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Mariam Sodawater

Welcome to my blog! I’m a passionate foodie who focusses on South Asian Foods along with fusion food recipes, world food, baking, and so on. You’ll find step by step pictorial and videos here.  Feel free to ask queries in the comment. I love to help!

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