In Nepal, sewai is a vermicelli dessert often eaten to mark Eid al-Fitr.
Sewai consists of thin vermicelli cooked or served sweet, commonly with milk, sugar, cardamom and nuts. Nepal’s Muslim communities share many festive food traditions with neighboring South Asian regions, where vermicelli sweets are strongly associated with the end of Ramadan.
The dish may appear under several spellings, including sevai, seviyan and sewaiya. Recipes also vary: some are milk-based and pudding-like, while others are roasted in ghee and sweetened with sugar, dried fruit or khoya. A richer Eid preparation may be called sheer khurma, but that is a particular style rather than the only name for the broader vermicelli dessert tradition.
Sewai is not the same as Nepal’s better-known Newar dessert yomari, nor is it watalappam, a coconut custard associated especially with Sri Lanka. Its Eid connection comes from the festive meal served after Ramadan’s month of daytime fasting.