Sewaiyan Payesh (Sweet Vermicelli Pudding)

Aah, at last I started writing a post after such a long time. Studies, exams, shifting, travelling had taken away most of my time I had in the past month. The little I had for myself, I was too lazy to dedicate that for blogging. But, after preparing vermicelli payes this evening I was bent on writing the recipe. The pudding was an instant hit at home, it got over even before the pudding turned cold.

Vermicelli is a common ingredient in Italian cuisine. It is thinner than spaghettis but is used almost like pasta. While Italians mainly use vermicelli as a savory, in South Asian cuisine it is mainly used to prepare kheer or pudding. Vermicelli is called in different names in different parts of the Indian continent – seviyan in Urdu and Hindi, semai in Bengali, sev in Gujrati, sevalu or semiyan in Telugu, semiya in Tamil and Kannada. It is mainly prepared from semolina, but the one I used it was wheat flour vermicelli.

Ingredients:

• Broken Vermicelli (Semai/ Sewaiyan): 150gms
• Ful fat cream Milk (Dudh): 1 ½ litre
• Sugar (Chini): ¾ cup
• Clarified butter (Ghee): 2 tablespoons
• Raisin (Kismis): ¼ cup
• Cashew (Kaju badam): ¼ cup

Preparation:

• Boil the milk in low flame so that it reaches almost three-fourth of the original volume
• In a skillet or wok heat 1 ½ tablespoon of clarified butter, decrease the flame and fry the vermicelli till it turns golden brown
• Pour the roasted vermicelli to the milk and bring to boil
• Add the sugar and take out of flame after 5 to 7 minutes or till the vermicelli is soft
• Serve hot or cold garnished with raisins and cashews

Hot Tips – Vermicelli tends to get burnt very quickly so continue stirring.

Further Readings – She’reya, Mughlai Vermicelli dessert