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comfort food, Desserts, festival, indian food nomenclature, vegetarian  /  September 3, 2017

Sewiyan or Payasam~ Sweet Treat for Festivals 

by Kanika Samra

It’s that time of the year again, festivals from Eid to Onam follow each other blazing a trail of delight, celebration and of course lots of great food! And in that procession how can dessert be left behind. To satiate your sweet cravings and to show off your culinary skills- presenting Sewiyan or sweet vermicelli from northern India, also called Payasam in Kerala and Payesh in Bengal. All of them refer to vermicelli pudding in milk sweetened with sugar or jaggery and garnished with a selection of dry fruits and nuts. My favourite is sewiyan with milk sweetened with a combination of sugar and jaggery. Why jaggery? It has its own flavour- a bit nutty, a bit earthy that adds an extra layer of complexity. Read on for this crowd pleaser!

Vermicelli – the world’s favourite pasta?

Before I started exploring pastas and cooking for myself I wasn’t aware of vermicelli pasta. For us in India vermicelli is almost always available in its broken up form and used to make either a savory snack or dessert. The only other kind of fine vermicelli that I’d seen were thred like thin seviyan – sharing their name with their namesake dessert – that were usually used around Eid.

Seviyan for Eid I Bangalore
Seviyan strands; Copyright: Nasreen Shoukath

How to make Sewiyan Payasam

Prep time: 45- 60 minutes

Active: 35-40 minutes
Inactive- 10-15 minutes
Serves 4-6 people

Pudding ingredients
Ingredients for Sewiyan

Ingredients: 

  • 1 tbsp ghee, (or unsalted butter),
  • 1/2 cup semolina vermicelli (sewiyan),
  • 1/4 cup almonds,
  • 1/4 cup cashew nuts,
  • 5-6 green cardamom pods,
  • 1/4 cup green raisins,
  • 1 to 1/2 cup milk,
  • 1/4 cup water,
  • 2 heaped tbsp sugar,
  • 1- 1 inch piece of jaggery
Sauteed nuts
Nuts sautéed in ghee.

Process:

To start measure all ingredients.
Soak green raisins in a cup of water and let them sit until the end.
Next, heat a pan and add ghee to it. Do this at medium heat so that the ghee or butter doesn’t burn.
Next, add cashews, almonds and 2-3 cardamoms to this and saute until golden brown. Remove from the pan and keep aside. Don’t drain the ghee, we’ll use it again to cook vermicelli.
In a thick bottomed pan add milk, water and remaining cardamoms and bring to a boil. Stir this mix occasionally to avoid any burning and sticking to the base.

Boiling milk
Boiling milk with cardamom pods.

A little bit of multi-tasking will save time!

While the milk boils, add vermicelli to the ghee in the first pan. Again, keep it at medium heat and lower as you see vermicelli cook and change colour. Stop when it gains a rosy hue. See images below and the best comparison is to check colour against uncooked vermicelli. All you need to avoid is burning it!

Roasted Sewiyan
Roasting Sewiyan in Ghee.
Roasted Sewiyan
Roasted Sewiyan – the colour will be a light rosy, brown.

Now for the mixing- once the vermicelli is cooked and milk has come to a boil combine them in one of the pans. Stir and bring to a slow boil. You to cook on low heat while stirring at regular intervals if you want a pudding with thickened milk. Next add sugar, mix well and turn off the heat. At the end add jaggery. The key is to stop cooking when jaggery is added- it can curdle milk. But in small quantities at luke-warm temperatures jaggery will dissolve without spoiling all the work gone into making Sewiyan. It is common in Kerala to make Payasam with jaggery.

Milk and sewiyan.
Mixing milk and sewiyan.

In the end add the nuts you had sautéed in the beginning, drain raisin that have been soaking in water and add them to sewiyan too.

Enjoy Sewiyan / Payasam warm or chilled!

You can enjoy right away or let it cool and serve chilled.

Milk Pudding
Sewiyan
Sewiyan Payasam
2019-06-03 07:52:17
Your guide to make this milk based vermicelli pudding that is a popular sweet treat for festivals.
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
50 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
50 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 tbsp ghee, (or unsalted butter),
  2. 1/2 cup semolina vermicelli,
  3. 1/4 cup almonds,
  4. 1/4 cup cashew nuts,
  5. 5-6 green cardamom pods,
  6. 1/4 cup green raisins,
  7. 1 to 1/2 cup milk,
  8. 1/4 cup water,
  9. 2 heaped tbsp sugar,
  10. 1- 1 inch piece of jaggery
Add ingredients to shopping list
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Instructions
  1. To start measure all ingredients.
  2. Soak green raisins in a cup of water and let them sit until the end.
  3. Next, heat a pan and add ghee to it. Do this at medium heat so that the ghee or butter doesn’t burn.
  4. Next, add cashews, almonds and 2-3 cardamoms to this and saute until golden brown. Remove from the pan and keep aside. Don’t drain the ghee, we’ll use it again to cook vermicelli.
  5. In a thick bottomed pan add milk, water and remaining cardamoms and bring to a boil. Stir this mix occasionally to avoid any burning and sticking to the base.
  6. While the milk boils, add vermicelli to the ghee in the first pan. Again, keep it at medium heat and lower as you see vermicelli cook and change colour. Stop when it gains a rosy hue. See images below and the best comparison is to check colour against uncooked vermicelli. All you need to avoid is burning it!
  7. Now for the mixing- once the vermicelli is cooked and milk has come to a boil combine them in one of the pans. Stir and bring to a slow boil. You to cook on low heat while stirring at regular intervals if you want a pudding with thickened milk. Next add sugar, mix well and turn off the heat. At the end add jaggery. The key is to stop cooking when jaggery is added- it can curdle milk. But in small quantities at luke-warm temperatures jaggery will dissolve without spoiling all the work gone into making Sewiyan. It is common in Kerala to make Payasam with jaggery.
  8. In the end add the nuts you had sautéed in the beginning, drain raisin that have been soaking in water and add them to sewiyan too.
  9. You can enjoy right away or let it cool and serve chilled.
Print
By Kanika Samra
Kitchenpostcards https://www.kitchenpostcards.com/

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Tags

  • almonds
  • asian
  • bengali
  • cashews
  • dessert
  • easy recipes
  • Eid
  • festivals
  • festive
  • homemade
  • indian
  • jaggery
  • kerala
  • meetha
  • mithai
  • onam
  • payasam
  • payesh
  • raisins
  • semolina
  • seviyan
  • sewiyan
  • simple recipes
  • south asia
  • sugar
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  • vermicelli

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15 comments

  • Coconut Rice Pudding  | Kitchenpostcards
    October 15, 2017

    […] with the easiest pudding ever. Presenting Coconut Rice Pudding. For those from India Kheer and Payasam are no strangers, cooked almost across the country, these milk based desserts are common festive […]

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    October 19, 2017

    […] Payasam/ Kheer […]

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  • An Indian Dinner Spread | Kitchenpostcards
    December 30, 2017

    […] based dessert choose from traditional Kheer (rice pudding) or its variant Coconut Rice Pudding or Vermicelli Milk Pudding also known as sewiyan in the north and payasam in southern […]

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  • Dahi Bhalle | Kitchenpostcards
    February 22, 2018

    […] Sewiyan or Payasam~ sweet treat for festivals  […]

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  • Safed Sooji Laddu ~ White Laddu | Kitchenpostcards
    February 24, 2018

    […] Sewiyan- Milk Pudding […]

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  • 15 + Recipes for Holi that are not Gujiya! | Kitchenpostcards
    February 28, 2018

    […] Payasam is often referred to as Kheer’s south Indian cousin but it is also popular in the North as Sewayin, a dessert made around Eid-ul-Fitr to mark the end of Ramazan. The Bengalis call it Shemai and the Marathis call it Sevaya. There are other names but I’m just going to declare it as a Pan-India Dessert that is actually made of Vermicelli. Ooh, and people in the Middle east and Africa make a very similar dessert called Cadriyad/Adriyad with it! Do you need a more meaningful and multi-cultural dessert on Holi! Just make it already! Find the recipe here […]

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    Reply
  • Makhane ki Kheer | Kitchenpostcards
    March 15, 2018

    […] Payasam […]

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  • 15 Unique Recipes that help you eat healthier this Navaratri! | Kitchenpostcards
    March 21, 2018

    […] Sewiyan or Payasam~ sweet treat for festivals  […]

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  • Of Smoothies and Smoothie bowls | Kitchenpostcards
    March 22, 2018

    […] Sewiyan or Payasam~ sweet treat for festivals  […]

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    Reply
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    March 29, 2018

    […] Payasam […]

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    April 12, 2018

    […] Payasam ~ sweet treat for festivals  […]

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    April 28, 2018

    […] Sewiyan or Payasam~ sweet treat for festivals […]

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  • Beans and Cabbage Thoran | Kitchenpostcards
    April 28, 2018

    […] Sewiyan or Payasam~ sweet treat for festivals […]

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  • Homemade Sadhya ~ Easy Payasam and Pulli Inji | Kitchenpostcards
    May 1, 2018

    […] usually make the Vermicelli Payasam like the one in the image below as it is quicker. You can make it like a simple kheer by replacing […]

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  • Homemade Sadhya ~ Parippu Dal Curry | Kitchenpostcards
    May 1, 2018

    […] Sewiyan or Payasam~ Sweet Treat for Festivals  […]

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