The vermicelli noodles are used in a number of dishes including a variation of kheer, a sweet dessert similar to rice pudding. Vermicelli are also used in many parts of India to make a popular dish called upma. To prepare it, dry oil-roasted vermicelli are boiled with a choice of vegetables.
Vermicelli is known by various local names such as, "Sevai" in Tamil and Malayalam, shavige in Kannada, sevalu or semiya in Telugu, semiya in Tamil and Malayalam shemai in Bengali, seviyan in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, vaLavaT/shevaya in Marathi, simei in Odia, sev in Gujarati.