The Lost Seviyan

“Elements of disguise,drama and experimentation were the hallmarks of Awadhi cuisine. The main course dishes often looked like desserts and vice-versa,” he says. Of course,saloni seviyan — and the drama that would come with it — has faded into oblivion,just as many other varieties of seviyan have,as Abdullah tells us. For instance,‘lauki seviyan’ was made of grated gourd and coated with flour to pass off as the regular seviyan,only healthier. Then,there was the ‘anannaas ki seviyan’,cooked in pineapple juice with bits of the fruit in it.

The nawab laments that the “really fine seviyan” is almost extinct. “The kind whose each string was as thin as a strand of hair,for the sheer time and labour it took to be made,is not found anywhere now,” he says.

Why did these recipes disappear in a city known for its gastronomy? “These were elaborate preparations that took a long time and loving labour to make them,unlike the regular seviyan made today,” says Abdullah.

The three factors — in order of emphasis — that went into making seviyan were aroma (achieved with addition of saffron,kewra water and rose water),taste,and food value (with addition of dry fruits).

Some past varieties still make a rare appearance though,like ‘muzaafar seviyan’ which is so called because of the presence of saffron in it. It is so dry that its strands will scatter if put on the plate. Its rarity is attributed to its extreme sweetness “Muzaafar needs eight times the sugar required in regular seviyan or other puddings. It doesn’t have too many takers in these health-conscious times,” says Shabahat Husain,sales manager,Hotel Taj Residency,Lucknow.

Besides the lost varieties of seviyan,there are other forgotten festive delicacies,like the cakes — “usaiyan”,which was made of lentils; “khandvi” and “rikauchhe” (besan or gram flour and lentils) made on Shab-e-Qadr (the night before the 27th day of Ramzan,which is spent in worship). “Now,the names probably just clang on the ears,don’t they,” asks Rumi Wilayet,matriarch of a family of landlords of Saidanpur in Barabanki district.