Food Talk
Divine dessert

These are served in a myriad ways substituting for rice and it is not uncommon in the South to fashion an upama with sevian, writes Pushpesh Pant

SOME say that it was the prince amongst travellers, Marco Polo, the Italian, who brought them to India on his way back from China while others contest this and claim that it was native genius that invented sevian that the world knows as vermicelli. The firang name is obviously inspired by their resemblance to — unmentionable at dinner time — worms!

These are served in myriad ways—most commonly, as kheer/payasam substituting for rice and it is not uncommon in South to fashion an upama with sevian. 

It was Farouk Miyan from Lucknow who treated us to a savoury chulav – a recognisable cousin to pulav. At the time of meethi Eid. the sevian come into their own.

Sookhi Sevian

Ingredients

Sevian (of the very fine variety, pre- roasted commonly available in the old city in Delhi. Most stores elsewhere also stock these. Can’t be substituted with any other kind, however attractively packaged) 500gm

Khoya (grated) 200 gm
Ghee/unsalted butter 100 gm Sugar 1cup
Water 2 cups
Cloves 3-4
Green cardamom (seeds only coarsely pounded) 4-6
Raisins 50 gm
Pistachios (slivered) 25 gm
Almonds (slivered) 25 gm
A few strands of saffron (soaked in 1/8 cup warm milk and crushed with the back of a spoon)

Method

Put ghee in a thick-bottomed pan and when hot put the cloves in. As the cloves change colour and swell add sugar and water, bring to boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and put the raisins, crushed/ pounded cardamoms, resins, and the sevian broken into one third their original size. Stir very gently and simmer till they soak in all the liquid. Now sprinkle the saffron with the milk.

Remove the pan from the flame and very gently spread out the strands of sevian with a fork to ensure that these do not glue together in a gooey mess. Drizzle the khoya evenly. Garnish with slivers of almond and pistachio.

You may enrich the dish with cashewnuts added while cooking and some like a touch of chironji and a few drops of rose water and a drape of chandi ka vark. We are quite content to have our fill of this unadorned beauty.

Grated coconut, though, can provoke us to assault as this seems like adding insult to injury. Forget the diet, make do with small spoonfuls, but don’t try to stretch the divine dessert or deny yourself the sinful delight occasionally.

What has always intrigued us is the dryness that is retained in sookhi sevian even after these have been cooked well. Whenever we have been tempted to stray from the familiar straight and narrow path of kheeri we have ended up looking foolish with burnt strands of once elegant
pasta — simply inedible.

A cunning chef once told us that the trick was to use equal measures of sugar, ghee and sevian. It was not long before it dawned on us that he did not wish to part with a trade secret.

Whenever we have enjoyed this delicacy — at Wahid Bhai’s house in Noida — saved, packed and transported for us all the way from Gorakhpur or sent as a surprise by Rashmiji, a Kashmiri thespian and exceptional culinary artiste, it has strengthened our resolve to master the recipe. We are glad to report that our scheming has succeeded at long last.

Scholarly colleague at the JNU Gulshan Deitel generously shared her ‘house’ recipe that demystifies this noble dessert. Poor Marco did not know what he missed out in China and his compatriots continue to glorify tiramissu! Go ahead and celebrate any time any place
— almost.

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