SEVIYAN, MY WAY.

I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth but this is the only dessert I truly crave - one that is synonymous with Eid, and it’s the why I suffered many painful Eid dinners growing up.

For me nothing compares to the memory of Eid dinners with my family as a child in Karachi. The dreaded aunties and their chat, their judgment and opinions, the itchy glittery outfits with sweat running down my back because of the synthetic fabric - the saving grace would be the tiny kitch packets of Eidee money handed over with a slobbery kiss. But more than that I’d bear it all for a bowl of this. I’d be in the back of the car home nodding off with seviyan infused slumber. That satisfying after taste that no other South Asian dessert can replicate.

Fluffy, exceedingly sweet seviyan. Roasted vermicelli cooked with milk, saffron and sugar syrup infused with cloves and cardamom. The trick to getting it to become super fluffy is to add milk and then let it cook covered under ‘dum’ meaning cook under steam until absorbed and add more as it becomes thick. Add the saffron right at last 5 mins because cooking saffron for too long loses it aroma.

(I don’t make the syrup I just use condensed milk)

1/2 pack roasted vermicelli (buy in a sun shops or big supermarket Asian aisles)
1 tsp ghee
6 cloves
6 green cardamom pods
1/2 run sweetened condensed milk or more of you like it sweeter
1 litre milk
1 pinch saffron infused in 1 tbsp hot water
Slivered nuts, rose petals, silver leaf.

Hear ghee. Infuse whole spices. Add crushed (do this before) vermicelli. Toast until medium brown. Add condensed milk then milk. Then turn heat low, cover. Keep checking it doesn’t stick to pan add more milk, cook for ten mins or so until super thick and fluffy add more milk and saffron. Cover.

Stir. Serve garnished with nuts, rose petals, silver leaf. Eat cold or hot. Personally I can’t wait for it to cool down.