Sheer Khurma

This past weekend, I made sheer khurma, which is a traditional South Asian dessert made during Eid.  As a child I remember coming home from prayer every Eid and having a bowl of this sweet yummy concoction, and then eating it every day for like a week!  It tastes great hot or cold.

Now that I have my own daughter, I want to continue this tradition and this is my second Eid trying my hand at this dish.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find all of the ingredients I needed in the few shops I looked in, so I made do with what I had.  

This is the recipe I used:
(combination of a recipe off of Desicookbook and Khanapakana)

Ingredients:

1 cup Vermicelli (Sewaiyan) 

1/2 cup of sugar

4 cups of milk

1/4 cup of slivered pistachios

1/4 cup of slivered almonds

about 1/2 tspn of kewra essence (optional)

about 2 tablespoons of ghee (clarified butter) or unsalted butter

6 crushed cardamom pods

1-2 cloves

Instructions:

1. Heat ghee add clove and cardamom and clove, then add vermicelli and fry lightly
2. Take out the vermicelli with a slotted spoon and fry the nuts lightly in the same ghee, remove nuts and remove pot from heat for a few minutes
3. Pour milk in pan and add sugar and bring it to a boil, then put it on low heat to simmer (add in the vermicelli and nuts after about 10 minutes) and continue to simmer for about half an hour until sugar dissolves completely and mixture thickens
4. Add kewra essence and remove from heat

Here are a few pics of the finished product, I garnished it with some nocochi (A simple, small cookie made out of finely ground chickpea flour, flavored with saffron)

I am still trying to perfect it, so my notes below reflect how it could be improved.

• A little less sugar
• A little more sewaiyan
• A LOT less kewra
• Some dried dates and golden raisins
• We should remember that milk has some sugar in it, so should take that into consideration.

It's so nice to involve your children in all steps of the cooking process, and although the little one just started saying a few words, and always accompanies me to the grocery store, I'm really looking forward to the time when we can buy ingredients and cook together!