Banana Sheera or Satyanarayan Pooja Sheera Recipe - Traditional Festive Indian Dessert with Semolina, Sugar, Ghee
Banana Sheera or Satyanarayan Sheera is a traditional Indian sweet or dessert made with semolina (rava), banana, ghee and sugar. Easy Indian Semolina Pudding made for festivals and Satyanarayan pooja.
It is a basic sheera or sooji halwa recipe with the addition of ripe banana. It is made and offered during Satyanarayan pooja conducted in Shravan month as prasad or neivedyam.
Sheera or Sooji Halwa is one of the most common sweet made in every Indian household.
In South India, Sooji Halwa is synonymous with Rava Kesari, the orange or yellow colour sweet served in most Udipi restaurants too. The ingredients are same, the process might differ.
It is perhaps the most easiest of desserts to make. Ingredients are readily available. Perfect to make when guests arrive suddenly.
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Banana sheera can be served to kids and toddlers. It is a healthy snack with ghee, nuts fruits and milk. You can easily control the quantity of sugar added and customize rest of the ingredients based on availability.
In Maharashtra, Sheera (savory version is Upma) is served for breakfast. Using good quality organic ghee makes a lot of difference in taste.
Born and brought up in Mumbai, I make Banana Sheera for all major festivals including Ganesh Chaturthi. It can be made for religious functions, pooja and even for housewarming pooja etc.
Ingredients
(Please note the exact quantities are given in the recipe card)
Rava, Suji or Semolina - Rava is cream of wheat (not gluten-free).
There are 2 varieties of suji or rava available - Bansi Rava and Sooji Rava. Use Sooji Rava for making sheera. It is the same variety that is used for making upma.
For extended shelf life, most people dry roast and store rava or suji. However, for this recipe, do not use pre-roasted rava.
Ripe Banana - Do not use over-ripe mushy banana.
Sugar - I have used Raw Sugar.
Milk and Water - Specialty of Satyanarayan Sheera is that it uses milk and water in equal proportion.
Adds unique taste (so does all prasad) and softness.
Ghee or clarified butter - Do not reduce the quantity of ghee. Sheera is made for occasions, pooja and festivals. Feel free to add ghee and consume small portions.
Nuts - You can add any nuts of your choice. I have used unsalted cashew nuts and raisins.
How to make Banana Sheera Recipe
Before you begin cooking, measure and keep all the ingredients on the kitchen counter (the ones in the picture below). Note - Ghee or Clarified butter should be measured after melting.
Heat a pan, add the rava or semolina. Note - Heat / gas flame should be at the lowest point. Roasting the rava is the key step and it takes approx 10 minutes to get the perfect sheera colour. (The 3 pics below are to show you the difference in colour and even roasting on low flame)
Once the rava is roasted, set it aside on a plate to cool. Warm equal quantities of water and milk, mix together and keep aside.
In the same pan, add a tbsp of ghee, add the nuts and chopped bananas. Saute on low heat until the banana is slightly mushy.
Once the banana appears mashed, remove from heat and set it aside on a plate.
Note - this step ensures you get a creamy halwa texture and the banana mixes well with the semolina. I follow this method instead of adding chopped banana directly.
Place the pan back on the heat, add roasted rava and warm milk + water. Keep stirring continuously to avoid lumps.
Once there are no lumps, cover and let it cook for a couple of seconds until it absorbs all the moisture.
Once the semolina has absorbed milk, add sugar. As soon as you add sugar, the consistency will be runny. It will thicken slowly once you add ghee.
At this stage, add melted ghee.
Mix well, cover and let it cook for a couple of minutes on low heat.
After couple of seconds, open the lid, and add the mashed bananas + nuts and mix everything together.
Once you start noticing the ghee leaving the sides of the pan, switch off the flame.
Add cardamom powder only after switching off the gas flame. Mix well and serve as prasad or enjoy piping hot.
Top tips
- Measure the ingredients and keep it ready before you begin the cooking process.
- Ensure gas flame / heat is at low especially when roasting the rava. The rava should brown evenly and not burn.
- I prefer cooking the bananas with the nuts in ghee and adding it to the rava mix. I learnt this from a cook who made this sheera years ago at home. It makes a lot of difference to the taste and texture, including shelf life.
- Do not compromise on the quantity of sugar and ghee. The sheera might taste a tad sweeter when hot but when it cools down after a couple of hours, you will notice that the sweetness is balanced.
Storage / Shelf Life
Banana Sheera stays fresh in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Ensure you pack sheera in an airtight container.
Re-heat sheera in a microwave and enjoy.
More Traditional Desserts to try
Aval Kesari (Poha Sheera) - South Indian dessert with flattened rice.
Almond Flour Ladoo (with jaggery)
Holige (Karnataka style sweet flatbreads, similar to Puran Poli)
Nendran Pazham Pradhaman (Kerala Banana Kheer with jaggery and coconut milk)
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Banana Sheera | Satyanarayan Sheera Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup Rava or Semolina
- ½ cup Sugar Raw Sugar used here
- 1/4 cup Ghee or clarified butter + 1 tbsp Extra for roasting nuts and banana
- ½ cup Water
- ½ cup Milk
- 6 unsalted cashew nuts roughly chopped
- 5-6 Raisins
- 1 Medium size banana finely chopped
- A pinch of Cardamom powder
Instructions
- Measure and keep all the ingredients on the kitchen counter. Note - Ghee or Clarified butter should be measured after melting.
- Heat a pan, add rava or semolina. Note - The flame should be at the lowest point. Roasting the rava is the key step and it takes approx 10 minutes to get the perfect sheera colour.
- In the meanwhile, warm equal quantities of water and milk, mix together and keep aside.
- Once the rava is roasted set it aside on a plate to cool.
- Place the pan back on the heat, add a tablespoon of ghee, nuts and raisins, finely chopped banana. Sauté on low heat till the nuts appear roasted and banana is slightly mashed.
- Remove from heat and set it aside to cool. This will be added towards the end.
- Place the pan back on heat, add the roasted rava or semolina and the mixture of warm milk + water. Stir continuously to avoid lumps. Cover and let it cook on low heat until rava absorbs moisture.
- Next, add sugar and mix. The mixture will appear runny. Cook until the sheera thickens.
- Next add Ghee. Mix well until the ghee is absorbed and sheera appears smooth and non-sticky.
- Add the cooked banana and nuts. Switch off heat, add cardamom powder and mix well. Serve warm.
Notes
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Vidya Narayan
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