Every family has the dish that makes it feel like Eid. For a lot of South Asian homes it's a pot of sheer khurma on the stove before the prayer. Across the Levant it's a tin of ma'amoul that somehow never runs out. These are our versions of both, written for home kitchens, with notes on what can be done days in advance.
All the ingredients are halal and alcohol-free. We've left out vanilla extract, which is usually made with alcohol. If you want vanilla, use vanilla powder or a seed scraped from a pod.
Sheer khurma
The name is Persian for "milk with dates". It's a fragrant vermicelli pudding cooked in milk with dates, nuts and cardamom, served warm on Eid morning and cold for the rest of the day. It thickens as it cools, so make it a little looser than you think it needs to be.
Ingredients
- 1 litre full-fat milk
- 50 g fine vermicelli (seviyan), broken into short pieces
- 2 tablespoons ghee or unsalted butter
- 10 soft dates, pitted and chopped
- 5 to 6 tablespoons sugar, to taste
- 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 2 tablespoons each of sliced almonds, pistachios and cashews
- 1 tablespoon raisins
- A pinch of saffron soaked in a spoonful of warm milk (optional)
- A few drops of rose water (optional)
Method
- Melt half the ghee in a heavy pan over a medium-low heat. Fry the nuts and raisins for 2 to 3 minutes until the almonds turn golden and the raisins puff up. Lift them out and set aside.
- Add the rest of the ghee and the vermicelli. Stir constantly for 2 to 3 minutes until it's a light golden brown. It burns quickly, so don't walk away.
- Pour in the milk, add the cardamom and bring it to a gentle boil, stirring so nothing catches on the bottom.
- Turn the heat down and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until the milk has thickened slightly and the vermicelli is soft.
- Stir in the sugar and the dates and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the saffron milk if you're using it.
- Take it off the heat. Stir in most of the nuts and raisins, plus the rose water. Keep a handful back for the top.
Make ahead: cook it the night before, keep it in the fridge, and reheat it gently with a splash of milk in the morning. It keeps for 2 to 3 days.
Good to know: some families add khoya or condensed milk for a richer version, or a little desiccated coconut. Dried dates (chuhara) are traditional in some homes. Soak them overnight before slicing.
Date ma'amoul
Ma'amoul are shortbread-like cookies made with semolina, filled with date paste or nuts, and pressed into carved wooden moulds. Don't worry if you don't have a mould. You can shape them by hand and decorate the tops with a fork or a pair of tweezers, which is how plenty of grandmothers do it anyway.
Ingredients
Dough
- 300 g fine semolina
- 60 g plain flour
- 170 g unsalted butter or ghee, melted
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground mahlab (optional, but it gives the classic flavour)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons orange blossom water
- 2 tablespoons rose water
- 3 to 5 tablespoons milk
Filling
- 300 g soft date paste (or soft dates, pitted and blitzed)
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- A pinch of ground cardamom
Method
- Mix the semolina, flour, sugar, mahlab and salt. Pour over the melted butter and rub it in with your fingers until it feels like damp sand. Every grain should be coated.
- Cover and leave it at room temperature overnight. This is what makes ma'amoul tender, so don't skip it.
- Next day, make the filling. Knead the date paste with the butter and spices until smooth, then roll it into about 30 small balls, each roughly 10 g.
- Add the orange blossom water, rose water and milk to the dough, a spoonful at a time, kneading lightly until it just comes together. Don't overwork it.
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Line two trays with baking paper.
- Take a piece of dough about the size of a walnut, flatten it in your palm, put a date ball in the middle and close the dough around it.
- Press it into a floured mould and tap it out onto the tray. If you have no mould, shape it into a dome and draw lines on top with a fork.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bottoms are golden but the tops are still pale. They'll look underdone. They aren't.
- Let them cool completely on the tray before moving them, because they're fragile when hot.
Make ahead: ma'amoul keep for about two weeks in an airtight tin, and they freeze well for a couple of months. That makes them ideal for baking in the second week of Ramadan.
Variations: for pistachio ma'amoul, mix 150 g finely ground pistachios with 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon orange blossom water. Walnut works the same way with a pinch of cinnamon. Traditionally the nut ones are dusted with icing sugar and the date ones are left plain, so guests can tell them apart.
A note on sharing
Part of the joy of Eid sweets is giving them away. A small plate for the neighbours, a tin for the family you're visiting, a box for whoever is spending Eid on their own. It's an easy way to spread the day a little further.