Ingredients
Makes 12 modaks. Scale using the Modak Calculator. Tap any ingredient to tick it off.
Method
Roast the semolina
In a heavy pan over medium heat, add 1 tbsp ghee. Add semolina and roast stirring continuously 6–8 minutes until golden and nutty-fragrant.
Make the syrup
In the same pan, boil water with sugar, saffron milk, and remaining ghee until sugar fully dissolves.
Combine
Reduce to low heat. Add roasted semolina in a steady stream, stirring constantly. Mixture thickens very quickly — stir vigorously. Add cashews, raisins, cardamom. Cook 3–4 more minutes until mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
Shape immediately while warm
Working fast — halwa firms as it cools — take 35–40g portions. Press firmly into greased modak mould, hold 5–10 seconds, unmould. Press cashew half into peak.
Cool and serve
Rest at room temperature 20–30 minutes. Serve at room temperature — cold halwa loses its ghee fragrance. Reheat briefly if refrigerated.
Tips & Variations
The 60g ghee is not just flavour — it is what allows the halwa to be shaped and to hold its form when cool. Do not reduce it.
Sheera offered as prasad in Maharashtra Ganesh temples is a long tradition separate from modak. Halwa modak combines both prasad traditions.
2–3 days at room temperature, 4–5 days refrigerated. Reheat gently before serving if chilled.
About This Recipe
Sheera (semolina halwa) is Maharashtra's universal comfort food — offered at temples, made for the unwell, served at weddings, eaten for breakfast. In modak form, the everyday comfort food becomes sacred offering. The same preparation, the same ghee, the same saffron — elevated by the shape into which it is pressed.