Sheer Khorma or Sheer Khurma is a festival special dish made during the Eid festival. This dessert has a rich flavor of dates in milk, along with loads of milk and vermicelli.
Sheer Khorma or Sheer Khurma is a festival special dish made during the Eid festival. Eid is an important festival for Muslims that marks the end of the Ramadan fast.
This festival celebrates the end of the month-long dawn-to-dusk fasting observed by the Muslims. Sheer khorma is served as a festive breakfast dish or as a dessert as well.
One of my best friends, back from NY, always had us over for the Eid celebrations. Most of her friends, including me, were vegetarians, and hence, almost every year she made many vegetarian dishes instead of the routine meat-based dishes.
She made wonderful vegetable biriyani, and her sheer khorma is something to die for. When I chose the theme for festival recipes from around the world, I wanted to make this famous Persian / Middle Eastern dessert one of the dishes.
I pretty much followed my taste buds to make the recipe, as I have eaten this almost every single year when my friend and I lived in NY. She also no longer lives there, and I truly miss having the Eid feast in her house.
It also happens that next Friday, the 17th of July, is the Eid festival this year. So there cannot be a more apt time to make this special dish.
Sheer means milk in Persian, and it closely resembles the Sanskrit word ‘Kshir’, which also means milk. Khurma means dates in Persian. This dessert has a rich flavor of dates in milk, along with loads of milk and vermicelli.
The vermicelli used for the recipe is the thinnest variety available. These are usually very long and thin, and I broke them into small (about 1-inch pieces) and used them.
Preparation time – 15 minutes
Cooking time – 70 minutes
Difficulty level – easy
Ingredients to make Sheer Khorma – serves 8-10
- Milk – 2 liters / 8 cups (I used 2% milk)
- Dates – 8 to 10 (chopped)
- Vermicelli – ¾ cup (thin variety broken into 1-inch pieces)
- Sugar – 2 cups (use less if you prefer mild sweetness)
- Mixed nuts – about ½ cup (I used sliced almonds, pistachio,s and cashews)
- Raisins – 4 tbsp
- Saffron – a large pinch
- Ghee – 1 tbsp
Procedure to make Sheer Khurma –
- In a heavy-bottomed pan, measure the milk and add the chopped dates and the saffron to it. I have an electric coil in the house, and hence had to take extra precautions to avoid the milk from scorching on the bottom. Always use a thin layer of water in the empty pan before you add the milk. Also, I added a steel plate (a small one) to the pot. I made sure the heat was always on medium and kept stirring every 7-8 minutes. These steps helped me cook the milk without burning it on the bottom.
- Cook the milk until it reduces to about ¾ of its original quantity. It took me about 45 minutes on medium heat. The dates added to the milk cooked really well, and I just had to mash them every now and then. The flavor of the dates infused really well with the milk, and it also imparted a very nice color to the milk along with the saffron.
- Meanwhile, in a separate pan, heat ½ tablespoon of ghee and fry the nuts. I used blanched, sliced almonds along with finely chopped pistachios and cashews. Fry the nuts until golden brown, and then add the raisins. Fry until the raisins puff up, and then remove them to a plate.
- In the same pan, heat the remaining ghee and fry the vermicelli. I used roasted vermicelli, but still fried them to get some flavor from the ghee.
- Once the milk cooks down, add the sugar. Mix well and cook until the sugars dissolve.
- Now add the fried vermicelli and cook it for about 10 minutes until it becomes tender.
- Next, add the fried nuts and the raisins and let it cook for 10 more minutes.
- Serve when warm or chilled. The sheer khorma thickens when it cools, so if you find it thickening too much, add a little more milk and heat it. Also, adjust the sugar as needed.
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Recipe
Sheer Khorma – Sheer Khurma – Dates, Milk and Vermicelli Pudding
Equipment
- Pot
- pan
- spatula
Ingredients
- 2 liters Milk 8 cups I used 2% milk
- 8-10 Dates chopped
- ¾ cup Vermicelli thin variety broken into 1 inch piece
- 2 cups Sugar use less if you prefer mild sweetness
- ½ cup Mixed nuts I used sliced almonds, pistachios and cashews
- 4 tablespoon Raisins
- a large pinch Saffron
- 1 tablespoon Ghee
Instructions
- In a heavy bottom pan, measure the milk and add the chopped dates and the saffron to it. I have electric coil in the house and hence had to take extra precaution to avoid the milk from scorching in the bottom. Always use a thin layer of water in the empty pan before you add the milk. Also I added a steel plate (small one) to the pot. I made sure the heat was always in medium and kept stirring every 7-8 minutes. These steps helped me cook the milk without burning it in the bottom.
- Cook the milk until it reduces to about ¾ its original quantity. It took me about 45 minutes in medium heat. The dates added to milk cooked really well and I just had to mash it every now and then. The flavor of the dates infused really well with the milk and it also imparted a very nice color to the milk along with the saffron.
- Meanwhile in a separate pan, heat ½ tablespoon of ghee and fry the nuts. I used blanched, sliced almonds along with finely chopped pistachios and cashews. Fry the nuts until golden brown and then add the raisins. Fry until the raisins puffs up and then remove it on a plate.
- In the same pan, heat the remaining ghee and fry the vermicelli. I used roasted vermicelli, but still fried them to get some flavor of the ghee.
- Once the milk cooks down, add the sugar. Mix well and cook until the sugars dissolves.
- Now add the fried vermicelli and cook it for about 10 minutes until they become tender.
- Next add the fried nuts and the raisins and let it cook for 10 more minutes.
- Serve when warm or chilled down. The sheer khorma thicken when it cools, so if you find it thickening too much, add a little more milk and heat it. Also adjust the sugar as needed.
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