Instant Pot Sooji Halwa – Rava Kesari / Sheera. Vegan Indian Spoon Fudge. Add pineapple or bananas for Pienapple or Banana Sheera. Can be nutfree, glutenfree Jump to Recipe
Like Every year, festivals and holidays come around the same time and I try to fit recipes for both on the blog. This year, the festival of Dussehra is just around the corner and Diwali is on Nov 7. These festivals have various stories and are celebrated differently by different sects. The celebrations have some common elements like getting together with family and friends and the lots of festival food! Special meals, snacks and desserts.
Indian Desserts can be from the stores,.. sugary, dairy filled or simple halwas that are made at home. This Sooji Halwa – Soon fudge made with semolina is simple and great to whip up within minutes for company. You can make it in the Instant Pot or in a saucepan on stove top. Add nuts and dried fruit of choice. 1 Pot, Smooth, toasty, delicious! See Recipe notes for Glutenfree, Nutfree and oilfree options.
More Indian Desserts for Dussehra and Diwali
- Gajar Halwa- Carrot Spoon fudge GF.
- Malai Burfi .GF
- Mango Sheera / Halwa
- Mango Burfi – GF Bars
- Kesar Peda – GF Saffron almond fudge cookies
- 7 Cup Burfi – Chickpea flour coconut Fudge. GF
- Vermicelli Kheer Pudding – GF option
- More Indian Sweets like Gulab jamun, Kaju Katli,Laddoos.
The Halwa is also called sheera or kesari. For the Navratri festivities, it is served as a meal with brown chickpea curry and fried poori flatbread. An amazing combination!. It always invokes memories of mom frying up pooris at 6 am for the 9 am pooja. 
Instant Pot Sooji Halwa - Rava Sheera
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegan butter or oil
- 1 cup (236.59 g) sooji (semolina, not semolina flour)
- 5 tbsp cashews
- 10 to 12 (12 ) dates chopped
- 8 to 10 tbsp sugar (date sugar, coconut sugar, jaggery powder or regular - some sugars are not as sweet, so use 2 tbsp more for sweeter
- 1/8 tsp (0.13 tsp) salt , 1/4 tsp if using oil
- 3/4 tsp (0.75 tsp) ground cardamom
- 8 strands of saffron
- 3 cups (750 ml) water
Instructions
- Press saute on the Instant Pot. When hot, add vegan butter or oil. Add cashews and roast for a minute.
- Add dates and roast for half a minute. Add the semolina and cook for 2 mins, stirring occasionally. The semolina will start to get puffy.
- Switch off saute. Add the sugar, salt, cardamom and saffron and mix.
- Add water and mix well. You can also add 1/2 cup finely chopped pineapple or banana at this point to make pineapple kesari or banana kesari.
- Mix to pick up all the semolina from the bottom and the sides. Mix for a few seconds so the sugar dissolves.
- Close the lid, pressure cook for 3 mins. Release the pressure after 10 mins
- Mix and Fluff and serve garnished with a pinch of ground cardamom and almond, pistachio slivers.
Notes
Nutrition
Michele Riggi says
October 18, 2018 at 5:48 pmThank you.
Your ideas and insights are appreciated.
My husband is vegan. I am just learning to correctly use the herbs and spices. All parts are now out of tune.
Richa says
October 31, 2018 at 11:39 am🧡🧡🧡
Cassie Thuvan Tran says
October 18, 2018 at 10:18 pmThis looks phenomenal! I used to eat carrot halwa all the time…it was great and all, but yes, VERY buttery. I definitely love these dairy free alternatives that taste even better!
Richa says
October 31, 2018 at 11:40 amthe grain halwas are much lighter
Thais Malvezi says
November 21, 2018 at 8:13 amHi there!
Here in Brazil we have stove top pressure cookers. Can I use it the same way you use the instant pot?
Richa says
November 22, 2018 at 12:10 amyes i have a couple of stove tops too and i use them insterchangeably withthe Instant pot
Kalpana says
January 5, 2019 at 11:16 amI wnat to use the roasted semolina now abailable in Indian stores. Do I still use the same amount of oil but skip the roasting process or do I need to reduce the oil quantity?
Thanks
Richa says
January 5, 2019 at 1:13 pmyou can use 1 tbsp. Heat the semolina in the oil for half a minute before adding other ingredients, just so the roasted flavor comes out more.
Avni Levy says
May 30, 2020 at 6:55 pmThis turned out great, except that I kept getting the “burn” indication on the IP. Maybe because I used farina instead of semolina? It already seemed done once it had come to pressure, but I added a little more water and oil and tried again (got burn again) — in the end it still came out yummy! Thanks!
Richa says
May 30, 2020 at 8:36 pmIt’s the pots. Some heat a little bit more, some heat unevenly. You can wait for the pot to cool for a few mins and then close the lid. Thicker mixtures often have this problem based on the model and their construction changes if any
Moni says
June 25, 2020 at 9:21 pmShould we use coarse or fine sooji for this instant pot recipe?
Monica says
January 14, 2021 at 1:12 pmI made this , love everything but the quantity of water . I guess it depends on whether you are looking for the gooey pudding like texture or the more loose texture as in the Maharashtrian shira . I was looking for the latter.
I made this in the instant pot perhaps the stovetop version would have been better for me.
Vegan Richa Support says
January 20, 2021 at 8:11 pmi’m sorry that it didn’t turn out as you wanted it to. personal preference I suppose
Richa says
January 21, 2021 at 9:13 amJust add kore water and it will be a thinner consistency. That’s the same thing you do in stove top. Adjust water for consistency