Savour Eid with Rampur's Qiwami Seviyan
An excerpt from ‘A Family's Culinary History’ by Muneeza Shamsie from Forgotten Foods
Foods served on religious occasions or festivals in my mother’s time are not dissimilar to culinary traditions today. Her account of Eid ul-Fitr in Rampur is filled with wonderful descriptions of joy and celebration when the Eid moon is sighted, marking the end of the month of Ramzan. She recounts that her father always broke his fast after Eid prayers with sheer khurma, which is seviyan cooked in milk, though she says it can be prepared in different ways. She writes of qiwami seviyan, which is cooked in syrup with four times the amount of sugar, while muzaffar has less sugar but is cooked with saffron. She gives a detailed description of how the yellow vermicelli-like strands of seviyan are made at home from kneaded farina.
Of course, today seviyan are bought dry and packaged from supermarkets or grocery stores. They are synonymous with Eid ul-Fitr and served in every household, but usually as a sheer khurma version prepared in milk. Sheer khurma was always present at my parents’ home on Eid and served to visitors who came to call and also for sit-down Eid lunch en famille. The same can be said of homemade qiwami seviyan, alongside other sweets bought from the shops, such as barfi, halwa sohan and rasgullas. I have only seen qiwami seviyan occasionally in Karachi.
Ingredients
2lb (around 1kg) sugar
1 pint (around ? litre) water
? tsp saffron threads
2 tbsp kewra
8 oz (around 225g) seviyan (vermicelli)
8 oz (around 225g) unsalted butter
2 tins evaporated milk (about 400ml each)
1 packet 200ml cream (or use 6 oz/170g fresh cream)
chopped pistachios or almonds (skinned)
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Method
1. Heat oven to 150°C/300°F.
2. Butter an ovenproof dish. I use a Pyrex 12” x 8” x 2 ?”.
3. Crush saffron strands and soak in kewra. Put aside.
4. Dissolve the sugar in water and bring to a boil. A clear syrup will be formed. Put aside.
5. In a separate pan, heat butter. Add the seviyan and brown them (but make sure they do not burn).
6. Add one tin of evaporated milk, ? pint syrup, and 1–2 tbsp of cream. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat slightly and cook for about 5–10 minutes. The mixture will thicken. Stir regularly.
7. Add the second tin of evaporated milk, ? pint syrup and 1–2 tbsp of cream. Bring to the boil, then lower heat slightly and cook for 10 minutes or until the mixture starts coming away from the edge of the pan while you are stirring.
8. Add the rest of the syrup and cream, kewra and saffron and stir well. Bring mixture to the boil, then lower the heat slightly and cook for another 20 minutes.
9. Pour mixture into the ovenproof dish. Cook in the oven at 150°C/300°F for 15 minutes.
10. Turn down the oven temperature to 135°C/275°F and cook for another 30 minutes.
11. Take the dish out of the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes or so. Scatter with chopped pistachios or almonds.
12. Serve warm with cream.