Sweet Vermicelli with Jaggery (Gor vari Sev/ Meethi Seviyan)

As I grow older, no matter whose love gives me happiness – I will always be my daddy’s little princess. I miss you dad.

I like to think that I am more of a practical person than an emotional one. But losing my parents with just 6 months apart was quite an upsetting time for me and my siblings.  So whenever it’s either Diwali,  Mother’s Day or Father’s Day I miss them a lot.  With Father’s Day approaching this weekend, I have been thinking of my dad a lot.  My dad was a great personality who loved meeting people and could talk about any subject.  We always had lots of visitors who would pop in for tea and snacks and a dose of his philosophy. He was in his element when he was with friends.   As kids we loved listening to his stories and would always demand bedtime stories from him which would sometimes be stores from the Ramayan or Mahabharat.  He was a great follower of the goddess Gayatri and made sure we chanted the Gayatri Mantra before bedtime.  Until today, I have never forgotten to chant the Gayatri Mantra everyday and especially whenever I have felt low, afraid or going through a rough patch.  It just helps me relax and be calm.

My dad was a chef and really cooked wonderful dishes especially Indian sweets like mesub, mohanthal and Jalebis. He used to cater for large weddings and similar get togethers but would never eat at these events. He would come home and eat the simple food my mum would have cooked. If ever he fancied a sweet, he would ask her to make the sweet sev using vermicelli or seero using semolina. Last weekend we had family visiting and I made this mithi sev which used to be one of my dad’s favourite sweets. This time I made it just the way he used to like sev using  very fine vermicelli.  The recipe is very similar to my methi sev recipe with slight variations.

Strangely enough my dad never wanted me or my sister to learn cooking  when we were young and used to joke that he would marry us to boys whose families would keep us like queens and we  would not have to do  any cooking!!  But my mum insisted that  my sister and I should learn cooking so we used to help her in the kitchen during the school holidays.  When we first started making chappatis, they used to be of strange shapes and often got burnt.  But my dad and brothers used to eat them and say that they tasted great.

This recipe is in memory of my dad and father in law who both loved meethi sev made the traditional way.

Ingredients for 3-4 servings:

• 200 gms of vermicelli crushed small
• 1 and half cups of jaggery (Gor)
• 1.5 litres of boiling water
• 125 gms  of  ghee. ( This is butter which is melted and strained)
• 5-6 sliced almonds
• 5-6 sliced pistachios
• ½ tsp nutmeg powder
• a large pinch of saffron
• 1 tsp of ground cardamom

Method:

1. Add all the ghee to the vermicelli and cook on a mild heat until the vermicelli starts to get golden brown.

2.  Add the jaggery to water and allow it to melt whilst boiling the water.

3. Carefully pour the hot jaggery water to the cooked vermicelli. The vermicelli will start to bubble and cook so be careful that you don’t get splattered. Add the ground nutmeg, cardamom and saffron to the mixture.

4. Keep stirring until the mixture becomes fairly solid and doesn’t stick to the saucepan.

5. Garnish with almonds, pistachio and currents.

6.  Serve it hot on its own or with vanilla icecream.

Do you have favourite recipes that remind you of your dad?

Recipes for some of my favourite sweets are in my blog.  Do check out the following:

• Badam Katli
• Badam (Almond) Halwa or Sheera with saffron and nutmeg
• Thick Vermicelli with Jaggery
• Gor Papdi
• Churma na ladoo

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