Maha Shivratree – the Great Night of Lord Shiva – was celebrated on Wednesday, 2nd of March by devotees worldwide. In Mauritius, the main event remains the pilgrimage of thousands of devotees towards Grand Bassin to collect holy water. On the day of Maha Shivratree, devotees offer the sacred water along with other offerings to Lord Shiva as they chant hymns and prayers in his praise. Strict spiritual discipline is to be observed all night till the last pahar of the Chaar Pahar Pooja.
To break our fast after the pooja, I flavoured the plain old semolina halwa with caramel. The recipe, taken from Adiraja Dasa’s The Hare Krishna Book of Vegeterian Cooking, is a decadent halwa that might be a lil too rich for some. I reduced the butter and sugar by 1/2 cup each but if you dnt have any health or waistline issues, feel free to use the original recipe described below.
CARAMEL FLAVOURED SEMOLINA HALWA
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups semolina
1/4 cup raisins
2 tsp grated orange rind
Juice of 1 orange
Method:
- Put the milk to boil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Then, melt the sugar slowly in a medium sized saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent it from burning.
- As soon as the melted sugar turns light brown in colour, lower the heat and slowly add the hot milk.
- The sugar will immediately crystalize. Break up some of the crystals, stir, and leave them to dissolve by putting the saucepan on a burner to simmer.
- Wash first saucepan and melt butter in it over low heat. Fry semolina gently in butter, stirring for about 15 minutes, till lightly browned. Turn heat down to the lowest setting.
- Add raisins, grated orange rind and juice to caramelized milk; then slowly pour mixture into the semolina.
- Stir once or twice to break any lumps. Cover pan tightly and cook gently over the same low heat for several minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.
- Remove the lid and stir the halwa a few times to fluff it up and to distrubute the raisins evenly.
5 comments
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March 7, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Cherry
Hello…thx for this wonderful recipe.ive already tried ur semolina halwa nice one…mum said katija (dadi) mem pas ti fer sa kumsa.joli compliment pou ene first time 🙂 well i wish to ask u if u knw where i can buy ricotta cheese in mauritius.and if there is a season for strawberries here.ive been at monoprix and couldnt find any 😦 and also where u buy ur cupcakes liners from.and mascarpone cheese too if u have any clue.
Thanks in advance for your help, im movin slowly but surely into the kitchen world. Cheers.
March 8, 2011 at 6:20 pm
prerrnamirchi
Hi, I’m happy to hear that your ventures into the kitchen are being rewarded with success. You should find both mascarpone and ricotta cheese at any supermarket like Sik Yuen or Shoprite. As for the cupcake liners I do not get them from a specific store; I buy them the moment I see a new colour/pattern of liners when I’m out shopping. It would be hard to find fresh strawberries at this time of the year. I guess you can use frozen ones if you cnt omit them from your recipe. Happy baking!
November 15, 2011 at 9:39 pm
Vaish
Hello Prerrna. I came across this while actually looking for some source to buy cupcake liners in Mauritius. Now i see that you’ve mentioned that you usually buy them randomly when you go shopping, but could you please suggest to me certain shops, or atleast regions where to look for them.. Please.. Any specific place, or shop would really help me a lot.
Thanking you in advance.
November 16, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Vaish
Hello. Can you please tell me where do you usually find cupcake liners? I’ve been to many shops in Port-Louis, and even hypermarkets, but to no avail. They are never available. So, can you please share your sources with me??? Please…
November 17, 2011 at 3:05 am
prerrnamirchi
Hi Vaish, you will surely find cupcake liners at Sik Yuen supermarket,Curepipe or at Winners [Forest Side or Rose Belle]. They may be out of stock at times that’s why I prefer to buy them in large numbers whenever I find them. There’s also a shoe shop in Arcades Sunsheel on the ground floor that sells coloured paper liners in bulk. I dnt shop in Port Louis so I dunno much about where to get them over there. If you still dnt get lucky, you can order them online on http://www.etsy.com/shop/thebakersconfections 🙂