Hyderabad: 'Seviyan' sees sharp spike in sales ahead of festival

Hyderabad: Handmade 'seviyan' (vermicelli) and dry fruits continue to be much sought after in the run-up to Eid-ul-Fitr, with people using them in making the mouth-watering dessert 'Sheerkhurma'. The dish is served specially on Eid celebrations. The Eid brings with it sublime food flavours.

Local stores and markets like Begum Bazar are selling seviyan and dry fruits. They are witnessing huge rush. Muslims across the State and city are likely to celebrate Eid on Saturday, depending on sighting of the moon.

The sale of vermicelli, dry fruits, ghee and other ingredients goes up during the last week of Ramzan. Even though machine-made vermicelli floods the market, people prefer handmade seviyan, which are sold in a few in parts of the Old City, particularly in Charminar, Yakutpura and Chaderghat.

Sheerkhurma is traditionally made with milk, sugar and is flavoured with cardamom, besides seviyan. For garnishing people use sliced almonds, pistachios and dates served as breakfast on the morning of Eid. This special dish is served to family and friends on festival day, which marks the conclusion of the month of Ramzan.

'Sheerkhurma' is a sweet dish preferred over all others prepared on the festival. Eid is in fact described as festival of sweets since a variety of sweets are made on the day. Two kinds of seviyan are prepared.

The family of Anwar Khan has been running the seviyan business in Chaderghat for the last six decades. Twenty members, including women, work in preparing seviyan during the season. They make over 22 quintals. Three brothers of the family run the business.

Anwar Khan said the business was started by his grandfather some 60 years ago. "We start preparing seviyan three months before Ramzan. More than 20 kg of maida is used in the preparation by each family every day. Seviyan is transported to surrounding districts and neighbouring States," he said.

The family of Yousuf Khan has been doing the business for the last 50 years near Charminar. "The handmade variety of seviyan tastes much better; it is much sought after. The machine variety might look similar, but it fails when it comes to taste," said Khan.

"People from different places come to the Old City to purchase seviyan. For them, we keep many varieties, like 'Hath Ka Seviyan', 'Namak Ka Seviyan', and 'Chakle Ka Seviyan'.

Toufeeq Fatima, a housewife, said she prepares ingredients a day before Eid so that the dish can be served early on the festival to family members and guests. She said "frying all ingredients and soaking seviyan in ghee takes a lot of time and needs early preparation."