Suji ka Halwa

Instructions

1. Put 180 ml of water and 45 g of sugar in a small saucepan with a pinch of saffron threads. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then turn the heat to its lowest setting and keep the syrup hot and covered, it must go into the semolina boiling hot or the halwa will turn lumpy.
2. Melt 1 tbsp of ghee in a small kadhai or heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add 8 g of halved cashews and fry for about 45 seconds until pale gold, then add 8 g of raisins and fry a further 15-20 seconds until they puff. Scoop both out with a slotted spoon onto a plate, leaving all the ghee in the pan.
3. Tip 60 g of fine semolina into the hot ghee and lower the heat to low-medium. Roast, stirring almost constantly with a flat wooden spatula and scraping the base, for 9-10 minutes. The grains should loosen from a paste into a sandy, free-flowing mass, turn the colour of pale honey and smell strongly nutty. Do not let it brown unevenly, pull the pan off the heat for a moment if it is catching.