Pakistani Sheer Khurma Recipe
Written by Sneh Chaudhry on April 29, 2022
Make authentic Eid Sheer Khurma with basic ingredients in just 25 minutes with the same traditional indulgent taste.
INGREDIENTS
For Milk
- 5 cups milk, more to thin further if needed
- ⅓-½ cup sugar, less or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
- tiny pinch of saffron, optional
For Sheer Khurma
- 2 teaspoon butter, or ghee, divided
- 2-4 dried dates, soaked overnight, deseeded, sliced, optional
- 4 tablespoons mixed nuts, crushed, (almond, pistachio, cashew)
- ½ (50 grams) cup crushed Indian vermicelli
- 1-2 tablespoon raisins, soaked for 10 minutes, optional
- ¼ cup cream, optional but recommended
HOW TO MAKE IT?
If you want the straightaway recipe, have look at the visuals and jump to the recipe card for precise cooking instructions. Below I have provided tips and how and where you can add other ingredients to the recipe like condensed milk, and milk powder.
I prefer milk powder best in Pakistani sheer khurma because it reduces cooking time and mimics traditional slow-cooking without adding too much sugar like in condensed milk.
- Take milk, sugar, saffron, cardamom powder, and sugar in a stainless steel pot. Bring it to a boil and then simmer on low flame. (Total cooking time of milk will be 20-25 minutes.)If you are skipping cream in the end, you may add some milk powder or condensed milk at this stage.
- Soaked dried dates overnight in water. In the morning de-seed it and slice it. Also, soak raisins.
- Fry sliced dates for 5 minutes until soft.
- Dried dates aka kharak are soft.
- Fry mixed nut in 1 tablespoon butter until crisp for about 40 seconds.
- While milk simmer, crush vermicelli or seviyan. Take butter and vermicelli in a pan and fry for 1 minute on medium flame until fragrant. This will burn quickly so keep stirring.
- Vermicelli is golden.
- Add fried vermicelli to a simmering milk pot and continue to cook. Seviyaan kheer or Indian sweet vermicelli is ready.
- From here when you add other ingredients, it turns into sheer khurma or sheer qorma. Add most of it to milk and save some for garnish. Add nuts and sliced dates to the milk pot.
- Continue to simmer until thickened to desired consistency. (Remember, it will thicken further upon cooling.) Add raisins in the last.
- Do a taste test and adjust sweetness as needed by adding sugar. Add cream, this step is optional as the dessert is already rich. After adding cream the sheer khurma gets a thick fluffy texture. (My Mil would always add cream but I was averted to add it in the recipe as it less traditional way. But it tastes great.)
- If it is too thick, you can add extra milk to make it thinner. Garnish and enjoy hot or cold.
VARIATIONS
- Warm or cold: You can enjoy it warm or cold. Traditionally, it is served warm.
- The Rich factor! Traditionally, long-simmering gives the sheer khurma a rich, creamy, and somewhat nutty flavour. Some people add milk powder or evaporated milk, or condensed milk to reduce the cooking time instead of sugar. To make it creamier, you can add fresh cream.
- Few other regional ingredients that go in the end with cream and that are not so Pakistani and more Indian family favourites are shredded coconut, chironji, and rose water.
Source: recipe52.com
