Mango sheera, also called mango kesari, is a warm semolina dessert made with Alphonso mango pulp, ghee, sugar and saffron. This mango sheera recipe takes about 35 minutes and serves 4 to 6. Use fresh pulp in season, or our Alphonso pulp tin all year.
What mango sheera is and what it is called
Mango sheera is semolina cooked in ghee, then finished with mango pulp and saffron. In Maharashtra it is sheera, and in Marathi people say ambyacha sheera or amba sheera. In South India the same idea is mango kesari, and in north India many people call it mango suji halwa. The method is the same under every name.
The dish is quick, uses a few pantry staples and is easy to scale. That is why it turns up at pujas and festival tables, and why a ripe mango can turn into dessert in under an hour. If you are looking for more ways to cook with the fruit, our list of mango recipes has plenty.
Here is a short video of the recipe: Mango Sheera with Alphonso Mango Pulp.
Which mango or pulp to use
The mango decides how the sheera tastes, because the pulp is the main flavour and not a background note. Alphonso pulp is described as rich, creamy and non-fibrous, which suits a dish where you stir the pulp into hot semolina and want it smooth. Fruit from the Ratnagiri and Devgad belt, which we source from 48 villages, is what we use and sell. You can order from our Ratnagiri Alphonso Mango or Devgad Alphonso Mango page when the season is open.
Fresh fruit is not the only option. Mango pulp is sterilised and packed in aseptic bags or hermetically sealed cans, which is how APEDA describes it. Our Alphonso Mango Pulp Tin comes in 850 g and 3.1 kg tins, from Rs 590, and is available all year. A tin is a sensible way to make sheera in October or January, when fresh Alphonso is not on sale.
Taste the pulp before you start. If the fruit is very sweet, hold back some of the sugar. If it is less sweet, use the full amount. Tin pulp may already contain sugar depending on the pack, so read the label and taste before adding more.
Ingredients
Prep time: 15 minutes. Cook time: 20 minutes. Total time: 35 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.
- 1 cup fine semolina (rava / sooji)
- 1 cup fresh Alphonso mango pulp (from 2 medium fruit, about 180 to 225 g each)
- ½ cup sugar (very sweet fruit may need only ¼ cup)
- 3 tablespoons ghee
- 2 cups warm water, or a 1:1 mix of water and warm milk
- A generous pinch of saffron, soaked in 2 tablespoons of warm milk for 10 minutes
- 4 green cardamom pods, seeds powdered
- 10 to 12 cashew halves
- 8 to 10 raisins (optional)
Method, step by step
- Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat. Fry the cashews until pale gold, add the raisins if using, and remove both. Set aside.
- Add the remaining ghee to the same pan. Add the semolina and roast on low to medium heat, stirring all the time, until the raw smell goes and the rava turns pale cream, about 8 minutes. Do not rush this step, because unevenly roasted semolina makes lumpy sheera.
- Warm the water (and milk, if using) separately. Add it carefully to the roasted semolina while stirring. The pan will splutter, so keep stirring to prevent lumps.
- Cook on medium heat, stirring, until the semolina absorbs the liquid and pulls away from the sides, about 5 minutes.
- Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves and the sheera forms a smooth mass again.
- Add the Alphonso mango pulp, the saffron milk and the cardamom powder. Stir well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. The sheera turns a deep gold from the mango and saffron together.
- Top with the fried cashews and serve warm.
Tips for soft, lump-free sheera
Roast the semolina patiently
Rava has to roast until it smells nutty and turns a pale cream. If you stop early, it tastes raw. If you push it to brown, it loses the fresh colour that mango needs. Eight minutes on low to medium heat with constant stirring is a good guide.
Add warm liquid, not cold
Cold water on hot semolina makes lumps and sputters hard. Warm the water or the water-and-milk mix first. A 1:1 mix of water and milk gives a softer, richer sheera. Plain water gives a lighter one and lets the mango stand out.
Taste before adding sugar
Sweetness varies from fruit to fruit and from tin to tin. Start with a little, stir, taste and add more if you need it. Add the pulp after the sugar has dissolved, so you can judge the final sweetness properly.
Bloom the saffron
Soak the saffron in warm, not boiling, milk for about 10 minutes. Crocin is the compound that colours saffron, and soaking helps it release into the milk. Add the soaked saffron with the pulp, not at the start, so heat does not drive off the aroma. Our Kashmiri Kesar saffron is sold in several pack sizes.
Do not overcook after the pulp goes in
Once the pulp is in, two to three minutes is enough. Longer cooking dulls the fresh mango flavour and can make the sheera sticky.
Variations
- Milk-based: use all warm milk in place of the water for a richer, creamier sheera.
- Less ghee: reduce the ghee a little if you want a lighter dish, but keep enough to roast the semolina properly.
- Dry fruits: add more nuts if you like. We sell split cashews, raisins and green cardamom that suit this recipe.
- Other mango sweets: try amrakhand (mango shrikhand), mango pudding or mango halwa for a change.
Serving, storing and festivals
Serve the sheera warm, straight from the pan, with the fried cashews on top. If you are making it for a puja or for prasad, check what your family tradition allows. Some families leave out raisins or saffron, and some add them, so follow your own custom.
Leftover sheera firms up as it cools. Cover it and keep it in the fridge, then warm it in a pan with a spoon of milk to loosen it. Eat it within a day or two. Sheera is a ghee-rich dish, so keep portions modest if you are watching fat or sugar. If you have diabetes or another health condition, ask your doctor or dietitian how much suits you.
For a fruit note, 100 g of raw mango provides about 36 mg of vitamin C, roughly 40% of the Daily Value. That figure is for mango in general, and cooking reduces vitamin C, so treat sheera as a dessert and not as a vitamin source.
Buying pulp, saffron and the rest
We dispatch by Blue Dart, and about 65% of Indian PIN codes get next-day delivery, so check your PIN code at checkout. Fresh Alphonso is harvested from about February to June, with the best supply from March to May, and the 2027 season opens on 1 February 2027. Until then, fresh listings show as unavailable and the pulp tin is the way to cook with Alphonso.
We do not use carbide. Our Alphonso mangoes are ripened naturally on hay beds. We hand-harvest with a zela pole fitted with a catching net, at Brahma Muhurta, before dawn. Selling fruit ripened with calcium carbide is prohibited in India under Regulation 2.3.5 of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011. For aamras and other pulp dishes, see our aamras recipe.
Shop the mangoes mentioned here
People also ask
What is mango sheera?
Mango sheera is a warm Indian dessert made by roasting semolina in ghee, cooking it with water or milk, and finishing it with sugar, mango pulp, saffron and cardamom. It is served warm with fried cashews. It is also called mango kesari or mango suji halwa.
Is mango sheera the same as mango kesari?
Yes, they are the same dish with different regional names. Sheera is the Maharashtrian name, kesari is common in South India, and suji halwa is a north Indian name. All three describe semolina cooked in ghee and flavoured with mango pulp, sugar and saffron.
Can I make mango sheera with canned mango pulp?
Yes. Mango pulp sold in sealed tins works well because the pulp is already smooth. Taste it before adding sugar, since some tins contain added sugar, and reduce the sugar in the recipe if needed. Our Alphonso Mango Pulp Tin is available all year, from Rs 590.
Why is my sheera lumpy?
Sheera turns lumpy when the semolina is not roasted evenly, or when cold liquid goes into hot semolina. Roast the rava for about eight minutes until pale cream. Warm the water or milk first, then add it slowly while stirring continuously, and the semolina will cook evenly without lumps.
Related searches
- Alphonso mango pulp tin
- Kashmiri Kesar saffron
- 40 plus mango recipes
- Aamras recipe
- Mango halwa recipe
- Amrakhand recipe
- Mango pudding recipe
- Mango recipes page
Sources and further reading
- APEDA, Mango Pulp, accessed October 2026.
- Wikipedia, Alphonso mango, accessed October 2026.
- Wikipedia, Mango, accessed October 2026.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales Regulations, 2011, Regulation 2.3.5 (compendium of 2 April 2025), accessed October 2026.
Written by Prashant Powle, founder of AlphonsoMango.in. Last reviewed October 2026.