Nawabi sevian - at a royal price of Rs.10,000 per kg!

LUCKNOW - Eid is round the corner, so sevian can’t be far behind! A shop in this erstwhile city of the nawabs has come up with mouthwatering varieties of the sweet vermicelli dish, the most elaborate being priced at Rs.10,000 per kg.

Naushijaan, one of the prominent Mughlai food restaurants in Lucknow, has opened its sweet shop that is offering delightful vermicelli dishes - days ahead of Eid which falls on Sep 21.

“Like you can’t think of celebrating Holi without ghujias or Christmas without cakes, similarly, Eid without sevian is also unimaginable. That’s why we decided to offer a wide range of vermicelli dishes for the occasion,” Naushijaan Sweet Shop (NSS) owner Shameel Shamsi told IANS.

Priced at Rs.140 per kg, the cheapest of all the vermicelli delicacies is the muzafar sevian that is a dry, scented, sweet dish, while the costliest, nawabi sevian, which is decorated with golden leaves and generously garnished with dry fruits, comes at a price tag of Rs.10,000 per kg.

“Depending upon the ingredients used in the dishes, we have fixed their price. In most of the delicacies, we have used oils and flavours from Iran. Besides giving a distinct taste to vermicelli, oils and flavours act as preservatives and the products can be enjoyed for several days,” added Shamsi.

Significantly, it is not just Lucknow residents who are approaching Shamsi for the sevian — orders are coming in from foreign shores too.

“Several orders have been placed from Gulf countries, mostly Kuwait. A couple of booking orders have also come from London. And as far as Lucknow is concerned, customers are literally lining up before the shop to get their favourite sevian,” said Shamsi.

Asked whether he has got any Indian buyer for the nawabi sevian, Shamsi replied: “Though I have not got any takers, I strongly believe Allah will send someone for it before Eid!”