Joy in everyones heart, smiles on their faces, a kaleidoscope of colors, festivities everywhere, homes spic and span, neighbors, friends and families exchanging gifts, the glowing warmth of the fairy or diya lights, a frenzy and chaotic kitchen making trays full and bowls full of food. Be it Diwali, Eid, Christmas or any festival, celebrations is equated with the most scrumptious dishes. Each festival has its own unique dishes that people make.
For Eid celebration I made some seviyan. Seviyan, semiya payasam, vermicelli kheer, pudding or mithi sev as most Gujaratis call it, is prepared in different ways. Some roast the nuts and vermicelli , boil the milk and then add the roasted mixture. Some just add the vermicelli into the boiling milk and let it cook. Wholesome milk, condensed milk, fresh cream are some of the dairy products used for this dish.
My recipe is simple and can be made in under 30 minutes. Vermicelli is a type of pasta which is widely used for a variety of dishes right from Italy to China. In India it is known as sev in Gujarati, seviyan in hindi, semiya in the south. Vermicelli is much thinner than spaghetti. Vermicelli can be made from a variety of flours right from wheat flour, plain flour to rice and millet flour. These days the most common vermicelli available is made either from wheat or plain flour.
Seviyan is a famous Eid fare in most Muslim homes. I remember hubby’s friend’s mum use to make lovely seviyan during Eid. Loaded with nuts and saffron and unbelievably creamy.
Making seviyan is not restricted to Eid festival. It can be made for Diwali or any other festival you celebrate. Serve it hot or chilled, both taste equally good.
SEVIYAN
4 Servings
1 cup broken vermicelli
4 cups full fat milk
½ cup mixed chopped nuts
¼ cup raisins
2 tbsps ghee (clarified butter)
½ cup sugar
½ tsp cardamom powder
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
a few strands of saffron
- Heat the milk in a pan.
- Take another pan and put the ghee in it. Heat the ghee over low heat.
- When the ghee melts, add the vermicelli.
- Roast over low heat, stirring all the time till it becomes brown in colour.Be careful not to burn it.
- Add the hot milk to the roasted vermicelli. Be careful to add the milk from the side of the pan, as steam will be created.
- Stir and let the mixture come to a gentle boil. Add the sugar.
- Mix and let the seviyan simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir occasionally so it does not burn at the bottom.
- Once the mixture becomes thick, take it off the heat.
- Add saffron, cardamom and nutmeg powder. Add the nuts and raisins.
- Mix very well and serve hot or put it in the fridge to chill.
- Both hot and chilled seviyan taste yummy.
- For a more liquidy seviyan, add a cup of milk after its cooked.
- For a creamier version, use 3 cups of milk to cook it and then add a cup of fresh cream just when it is done.
- Some recipes use condensed milk, but I personally do not like the taste. About a cup of condensed milk is added to the milk and boiled. Reduce the amount of sugar if using condensed milk.
- If you are going to use an artificial sweetener, then add only 3 cups of milk. Its the sugar and milk cooked that forms a thick syrup.
- Choice of nuts that can be used are walnuts, cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios.
- For a vegan version, use coconut milk or water. Cooking with water will not give you the same colour but the consistency will be thick. Roast the vermicelli in margarine.
- Use unsalted butter instead of ghee.
A little request:
If you do try this recipe then please either
- add a comment below,
- send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
- tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram
- or tag me on Twitter as #Mayuri1962
You may want to check out the following kheer recipes:
