A delicious Indian vermicelli pudding, loaded with nuts and flavoured with saffron and cardamom powder. This is especially is a very popular Eid recipe
The lip smacking sheer khurma or vermicelli and milk pudding, is a very popular Eid recipe, in India. This traditional dessert is celebratory and festive. Loaded with dates, pistachios, cashews, almonds and flavoured with saffron and cardamom powder, it is truly a treat. On Eid this vermicelli kheer is, generally, the first thing that is eaten. I have been lucky to enjoy it quite a few times, back home in Mumbai, with friends who fasted during Ramadan. And it is that taste, flavour and texture of this pudding, that I have tried to recreate, here. And I think I’ve done a good job with it. 🙂
Sheer stands for milk in Persian and khurma for dates. So, essentially sheer khurma is cooking dates with milk, which came to India from Persia. However, with time and taste, vermicelli, ghee and dry fruits have also became a part of this dessert. Besides the dates in the sheer khurma (vermicelli and milk pudding), sugar is also added to it, to enhance the taste. However, mine is a refined sugar free recipe, as I have used jaggery instead. And this let’s me enjoy, bowls of this yummy kheer, guilt free. So, while this is a rich and indulgent recipe, it is also a healthy one!
Also check,
Thandai kheer with coconut milk
Kheer komola (Bengali orange kheer)
What you will need
First and foremost, to make the sheer khurma, you will need whole milk. The creamy texture of reduced and thickened, whole milk, is half the reason why this pudding tastes divine. So, I’d suggest that you stick to that and not use skimmed milk for this recipe. You won’t get the desirable result using the latter. Secondly, you will need nylon vermicelli, too. These are the thin variety of vermicelli, which are traditionally used in this kheer. And this needs to be roasted before you add it to the milk to be cooked. In a lot of stores, you will find the pre-roasted vermicelli packets, which you can very well use. But, if that is not available, you can simply dry roast yours at home, over a medium flame, until golden in colour.
Apart from these two main ingredients, you will also need dates, pistachios, almonds cashews, chironji, saffron and cardamom powder. The cardamom adds a a delicate fragrance and the saffron a beautiful orangish-yellow hue to the khurma.
Besides the easy-to-find ingredients, this sevaiyan is also very easy to make. The important part, however, is to get the consistency of milk right. It needs to be cooked until, thick and creamy, and that will take some patience. However, this traditional recipe is a pretty forgiving one. You may, add or reduce any number of nuts that you like or adjust the sweetness. In fact, you can even decided how thick or runny you would like your kheer to be. But again traditionally, it is supposed to be of a thick consistency. There are a lot of recipes that also make use of condensed milk, to thicken the milk. That is a great idea, but since I decided to keep my recipe refined sugar free, I have not used it.
Serving suggestion
The sheer khurma is best enjoyed chilled, at least that’s how we enjoy it. You could serve it warm or at room temperature, too. So, this Eid I hope you will make this delightful recipe and enjoy with your loved ones. And even if not for the festival, you could make this even you have guests at home for dinner or simply when you want to indulge. Additionally, be sure to make a big batch of this as, you won’t stop at just one serving! That’s because, not only does it taste absolutely yummy, my vermicelli and milk pudding is also guilt free. 🙂
If you do happen to try my recipe out, please do let me know how it turned out for you. I’d love to pictures of your dishes too, so, do tag me on them, over on Instagram and I will surely respond.
Eat hearty!
Sheer khurma (vermicelli and milk pudding)
Equipment
- Sauce pan
Ingredients
- 1 l whole milk
- 60 g vermicelli roasted
- ½ cup jaggery
- 2-3 tsp raisins
- 2-3 tsp chironji/charoli seeds optional
- 8-10 cashews roughly chopped
- 8-10 pistachios roughly chopped
- 5-6 dates pitted and roughly chopped
- 8-10 almonds roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp saffron threads
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 2 tbsp ghee
Instructions
- In a thick bottomed sauce pan, heat the ghee and when it melts, sauté the cashews, almonds, raisins and charoli seeds for 2-3 minutes. Remove and set aside
- Heat the remaining ghee and sauté the dates for couple minutes. Remove and set aside
- Now, set the milk boil, once it comes to a roll boil, stir, lower the flame and keep cooking until it starts to thicken and reduces to half it's quantity. Stir in the saffron and the roasted sevaiyan (vermicelli). Mix well and once they plump up, tip in the dates and nuts
- Mix well and cook on medium low flame for another 5-7 minutes. Turn the flame off, add the jaggery and cardamom powder, mix, cover and let it come to room temperature. Thereafter refrigerate for 30 minutes, at least
- Serve your delicious, chilled sheer khurma garnished with some more chopped nuts. Enjoy!
Notes
- To roast the vermicelli or sevaiyan, heat a tablespoon of ghee, once it melts, fry them until golden brown in colorÂ
- You can also serve the sheer khurma at room temperature, but tastes best chilled
- You could increase or decrease the amount of jaggery in the recipe, as per taste
- The jaggery is added after turning the heat off, so as to prevent the milk from splitting. Jaggery sometimes contains impurities that causes the milk to split
- l - litre
- g - grams
- tsp - teaspoon
- tbsp - tablespoon
