India, March 18 -- With Eid al-Fitr approaching, a shortage of mawa (dried milk solids) - a key ingredient in sheer korma - has affected supplies across parts of the city, with dairy shops citing a lack of LPG cylinders for the disruption.

At several neighbourhood dairy shops, where fresh mawa is usually prepared in the days leading up to Eid, shelves lay empty, with shopkeepers saying they have been unable to make new batches.

"We used to prepare and store it, but ever since we ran out of the stock, we haven't prepared the product due to a lack of LPG cylinders," said Ashraf Gilani of New Nagori Dairy Centre at Mira Road.

Mawa is typically prepared by slowly reducing milk over several hours, making it heavily dependent on fuel availab...