I had no clue! Stumbled on the discovery by accident!
So, my coworker is from India and she is always delightfully talking about cooking Indian food. She has me hungry all the time! The food she cooks sounds delicious.
For breakfast one morning she brought in Sheera. Now supposedly this is an Indian dessert (remember – you know ‘dessert’ is spelled right with two ‘r’s, cuz it stand for ‘strawberry shortcake’!). But, if you cook Sheera with less sugar it makes for a great breakfast. Sheera reminds me in ways of cream-of-wheat, only a little thicker. And tastier.
She was telling me to take roast some Semolina flour in a pan for a few minutes. Ratio of semolina is 1 C semolina to 2 C water, and reduce the sugar to 1/2 C if you are going to use for breakfast, etc…
So, I am at home wanting to make some of this stuff, but put it off because the only place I knew I could pick up Semolina flour was at my local Albertson’s. But, on a norm I shop at Stater’s. So, I just never got around to it.
But, I was really craving it one night. So, I went searching through my cupboards just out of curiousity. And I thought, “cous cous could work”. I bought a box real cheap at Trader Joe’s. Happened to look at the ingredients to see exactly what Cous Cous really was and BINGO! Durum Wheat S-E-M-O-L-I-N-A! Go figure! Hallelujah!
So, without further adoo, I give the wonderful recipe for Sheera. I did try it with 1/2C sugar and still found it to be a bit too sweet. I’d probably go with 1/4-1/3C sugar. I can’t imagine a whole Cup, but please complete to your liking.
Takes only a few minutes to make.
Ingredients:
1 Cup Semolina/Rawa
1 Cup Sugar
3-4 tbsp Ghee *I didn’t have ghee. Used butter.
2 Cups Water
1 tsp Cardamom powder *I used Cardamom, but I was told you could substitute with Nutmeg
8-10 Golden Raisins
2-3 Almonds sliced
Directions:
1) Heat the water. Keep aside covered
2) Add ghee to frying pan. Cook raisins and keep aside
3) Now add Semolina to the ghee and roast well until you get the nice aroma of roasted semolina (Takes approx 5-6 mins).
4) At this stage, add sugar and ground cardamom.
5) Mix well for a minute and then add hot water slowly. Take care while adding water as it might bubble out.
6) Keep stirring continuously to avoid forming lumps.
7) Add the cooked raisins and mix well
8) Cook covered on medium heat for 2-3 mins
9) Serve hot garnished with sliced almonds
Tada! Kids are suppose to love it, too. My son liked it. My daughter is like her father and picky when it comes to texture – she didn’t take to it. That is okay, more for me! But watch out, it suppose to be pretty caloric! But oh so tasty!
P.S. – I also just found out that Coriander is the same thing as C-I-L-A-N-T-R-O! Cool, huh?
Um, I could get used to this in sooo many ways. First, I’m a HUGE cream of wheat lover (mix the cooked cream of wheat into pancake batter for a special treat). So, yea, I could see how this would be hella good!
-DTW
http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com
Hi Darius, I am going to have to try that in pancakes. I would have never of thought of putting it into pancake batter, but sounds tasty. And I love pancakes. I’ll give that a try! Thanks.
whoa! I never knew that — do you need to grind up the cous cous to use it as a substitute for semolina flour? or just sub directly?
Whenever I think couscous I’m thinking the Israeli kind — little pearls. Never made the connection.
mMMmm I love desserts with cardamom in it.
I’ve never cooked or tried Sheera before, but it sounds like I might want to start expanding my horizons!
I like Darius’s idea of adding Cream of Wheat to pancake batter. Never tried that before either, but now…definitely on my list of things to do!
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Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by.
Jen: I used it as is in this recipe. I love when i discover new things! And buying a box of cous cous at Trader Joe’s is so much more inexpensive than buying Semolina at a grocery store. So, it was a great discovery.
Jude: I’ve never used cardamom, period. So, this was a great way to tantalize my senses. I look forward to implementing more spices into my cooking.
Sandie: Sheera is very tasty. Just be sure to measure the sugar according to your taste. I made it just sweet enough to satisfy my craving. Search on the web for apple sheera. Someone had a great recipe out there. Yum, tasty.
thank you,, thank you, thank you. I live in France and came across an Indiah recipe in English, calling for semolina. The Fr word for semolina is semoule. But in ordinary Fr usage, semoule always refers to couscous. Hmmm, I was wondering to myself if semoule (semolina) was couscous and then I stumbled on your explanation!
I tried to use couscous in shortbread as per a recipe including semolina, it us uncomfortably gritty. I dont think it is the same.
Here, back in India, just a change in words does wonders. While semolina is a staple and inexpensive. Just changing it to a rather unknown term ‘Couscous’, it becomes an expensive gourmet food.