An Indian Sweet without Sugar(khaskhas jo seero)
Author: Alka
Poppy seeds or Khas khas halwa enriched with dry fruits and nuts.A traditional winter sweet !
Ingredients
  • Khas khas (poppy seeds)150 gm
  • Milk 800 -850 ml (less or more will just affect the final richness of the sweet so go ahead and experiment)
  • Vegetable oil 3-4 tablespoons
  • Green cardamon (choti elaichi) 6-7
  • Mixed Dry fruits like Chuhara (dried dates), almonds, khishmish (raisins) and unsalted pistachios, all chopped into thick slices (except khishmish). Use as much quantity as you want, but at least 100 gm each
  • Sugar (optional), around 200 gm or as much preferred.
Method
  1. Soak khas khas in water for 5-6 hours.
  2. Later rinse it few times (you can use tea strainer) and let all the water drain out completely,through the strainer.
  3. Now grind this khas khas with some vegetable oil.Water or milk if added while grinding, could create lots of spluttering while cooking.So its better to use oil.
  4. Grind it till a coarse mixture is obtained.
  5. Now in a heavy bottom pan or kadai, add 2-3 tablespoons of oil.Let it heat properly, then carefully add the khaskhas paste. Beware of spluttering (you can immediately close the pan with a lid). Add elaichi now.
  6. Now roast the mixture on high flame, stirring continuously till a nice aroma of khas khas fills your kitchen.The paste should look pinkish in colour and the raw smell of khas khas should be gone.Don't over roast it, as that would give a bitter taste to the final halwa.
  7. Then carefully add about a cup of boiled milk,bit by bit and mix carefully.Add all the dry fruits now.
  8. Lower the flame, keep on adding some milk (about half cup) in intervals and let it be absorbed by the khaskhas,till khaskhas is cooked.You might need about 800 ml to 850 ml of milk to achieve this target :-)
  9. The final seera could be of semisolid consistency,or as shown in picture--- a dry form, which could be obtained by cooking seera till oil separates out
  10. Garnish with some cashews /almonds/pistachios and serve with love.
Notes
Some people find it hard to bhuno the poppy seeds, and to judge what is the correct time to stop cooking khuskhus, so many times either they overcook or under cook it. So the simpler method could be, to boil the milk first, add the chuhara, let the dried dates cook for sometime and then add the khaskhas ( No need to grinding then). Cook on low heat till the milk is almost absorbed.Add rest of dry fruits, stir well, add oil/ghee, sugar and give it a nice mix. Cook on lowest flame till sugar gets absorbed and the oil starts separating out.Though the procedure is time consuming, but not much of technicality involved here. Taste wise both taste equally good.
Recipe by Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes at https://test.sindhirasoi.com/2008/08/an-indian-sweet-without-sugarkhaskhas-jo-seero/