The night before Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking the Ramadan fast, markets in Karachi, Pakistan, bustle with preparations. This evening, which this year falls on Saturday, is known as Chand Raat, or the sighting of the moon, and is filled with last-minute shopping, intricate henna applications and, of course, cooking.
Among the many delicacies on the Eid trolley of sweet and savory, sheer khorma remains a classic. Each cook has a style of making the creamy pudding, with ghee-fried vermicelli simmered in sweet milk, cloves, cardamom and fried slivered nuts. Sometimes it’s thin and soupy, as in this version, and other times, it’s caramelized until thick.
Traditionally, sheer khorma’s preparation starts days before Eid: Milk must be ordered from the doodh wala (milkman), nuts need to be boiled, peeled and thinly sliced by hand. On either Chand Raat or the morning of Eid, the aroma of cardamom and toasted vermicelli, the first sweet scent of celebration, fills homes.
Bowls of sheer khorma are beautifully arranged, then served to men returning from Eid prayers, shared with neighbors in a gesture of hospitality and connection, and placed on the Eid trolley for guests to partake. While some families do cook for days, others prioritize convenience.
Sarah Karim, a facilitator, consultant and mother of two in Seattle, opts for prepackaged mixes to “keep the tradition alive,” she said, adding, “it’s quick” — they take only 15 minutes to prepare — “easy and a great way to share my culture with friends celebrating Eid with us.”
Because the store-bought mixes don’t taste as fresh as homemade, some cooks add their own touches. Ambreen Maniar, an avid cook and homemaker based in Karachi, who’s been using prepackaged sheer khorma for 30 years, adds extra vermicelli, also known as seviyan, and condensed milk.
Other home cooks insist on from-scratch methods. “No packaged ones at all: blanched and chopped nuts, milk, sugar and seviyan — the traditional way,” said Sadia Aziz, an educator in Karachi. There’s something special about stirring the milk, toasting the vermicelli and slicing the nuts by hand.
Though some find that process daunting, it can be straightforward — and streamlined. Nuts can be blanched and sliced days in advance. If there isn’t time to blanch nuts, store-bought blanched almonds can be soaked in hot water for a minute, and raw pistachios can simply be chopped before frying. Butter or oil can replace ghee, and two cups of milk swapped in for heavy cream to reduce cook time. (Shireen Anwar, a celebrity chef in Pakistan, adds evaporated milk for extra richness to achieve the perfect creaminess.)
Like all customs, the ways of making sheer khorma evolve. Whether prepared by a grandmother meticulously slicing nuts, a busy mother stirring a store-bought mix or a Gen-Z cook experimenting with nondairy milk, its essence — a shared moment, a taste of home — lingers.
But the from-scratch process is worth trying: It may bring back memories, and it definitely will create new ones to cherish.
