It seems unimaginable to grasp the true essence of Eidul Fitr without having lots of ‘Sheer Khurma’ from dawn to dusk with all its traditional flavours of dry fruits.
‘Sheer Khurma’ is a traditional dessert prepared by Muslims of the subcontinent on Eidul Fitr when this special dish is served at morning usually after Eid prayers and throughout the day to all those visiting from time to time.
‘Sheer Khurma’ is a vermicelli pudding. To add flavour to the dish, various dry fruits including cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios, chirongi and raisins, and specially ‘chwaras’ (dried dates) are also added to it.
Since it is the baseline of Eid cuisine, every household makes sure to have it on their menu and is the first food item that meets the guests’ eye. This particular dish is served whosoever one visits, no matter how much one gets tired of eating it since morning. The continuous insistence of the hosts leaves the guests with no option.
Most interestingly, the first bowl of ‘Sheer Khurma’ presented early morning to a growling stomach tastes like the most delicious food ever bestowed upon us in life but the over indulgence in bowls after bowls leads to nausea at the very word ‘sheer.....’ and by the end of the day, one feels like a milk-sugar factory.
‘Sheer Khurma’ on Eid also spells out competition among womenfolk, for their cooking skills are rated on the taste, colour, aroma and consistency of the dish. Moreover, eating ‘Sheer Khurma’ while being clad in fancy new clothes and makeup is nothing less than a test for them. But for children, Eid is a sweet treat, offering them more of a world of sweets in the shape of ‘Sheer Khurma’, ‘mithai’, cakes and of course, the long awaited ‘Eidi’.
The good old ‘Sheer Khurma’ on Eid does not remain confined to the house but is keenly distributed among neighbours and relatives as a ritual, which again becomes a cause of the refrigerator oozing out with every genre and creed of this ‘dessert’.
There are several methods of preparing ‘Sheer Khurma’. The most common one starts with the vermicelli fried in a pan along with milk and sugar added to it later on and cooked for sometime till it thickens, and finally garnishing it with dry fruits before serving.
There is no doubt in the fact that eating bowls after bowls of ‘Sheer Khurma’ is not an easy task but eliminating this centuries old dessert from the Eid menu would deprive us from the true festivity of the event.
History Of Sheer Khurma:
Hazrat Bibi Fatimah (S.A.) was wondering what to cook as the children would soon be coming home with their grandfather and father, and would ask for something sweet to eat on the day of Eid. There was nothing to eat at home. She turned to her maid. “Bring me the bowl in which I rub my hands after I’m done with the bread dough.” Her maid Fizzah (S.A.) brought the bowl.
In it were long, thin sticks of dried flour that Lady Fatimah (S.A.) had rubbed off her hands. She put those sticks in a bowl of milk, then she added Khurmas (dates) to it.
This is the first time Sheer Khurma was made. Making it on Eid is Sunnat-e-Fatimah Zehra (S.A.).
Happy eating!
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