INDIAN SWEETS AND DESSERTS

About Indian Sweets and Desserts

Indian sweets are famous for its variety of colors, textures and shapes. Every sweet has its own identity and they are famous by their names. Desserts are not only use after the meal but also make your festival celebration.

Centuries ago, people invented ‘mithai’ and it became gain its popularity and now also the elders make different sweets and desserts in their homes.

Let’s take a look for India’s most famous sweets and desserts list:

LADDU

Laddu

The name of this sweet identifies its shape in India. Laddoo are sphere-shaped sweet which are typically made from gram flour, fat (ghee/ butter/ oil), milk, nuts, semolina and sugar. There are also varieties of this sweet such as moti choor laddoo, boondi laddoo, besan laddoo, suji laddoo, etc.  

KAJU BARFI

Kaju Barfi

There are also only ‘barfi’ made by the Halwai; but kaju barfi gives another pleasure to the buyer. Kaju barfi’s main ingredients are cashew nut, cream, sugar, milk. It is also decorated by silver varq as the normal barfis have. Usually the shape of barfi is rectangle or diamond shapes. A little sweet taste will come when you eat the barfi but it gives a very delicious flavor to your tongue.

JALEBI

Jalebi 

Circular or pretzel shapes of jalebis are served warm as well as cold. Jalebis are mainly available in orange or dark yellow color. It is made of maida or wheat flour, saffron, ghee and sugar. Sometimes people add a little bit citric acid or lime juice as well as rosewater to make it more delicious. Jalebis are mainly made during the Diwali eve.

GULAB JAMUN

Gulab Jamun

Another famous sweet which is also used as dessert in India is ‘gulab jamun’ which is made from khoya, mixed together with flour and sugar and finally dipped in saffron included sugar syrup. It is one of the popular sweet as well as dessert which used in wedding ceremonies also. 

PEDA

Peda

Peda is a sweet which is circular in shaped. Its main ingredients are khoya, sugar and traditional flavorings including cardamom seeds, pistachio nuts and saffron. The color of peda varies from creamy white to a caramel color. In North India sweets are prepared from mawa (khoya) are very popular and the peda is also a mawa sweet variety.

GAJAR KA HALWA

Gajar Ka Halwa

There are many types of halwa available in sweet shops. But the carrot halwa is very popular as it is mainly made in homes. Its main ingredients are grated carrots containing a specific amount of water, milk, and sugar. It is often served with a garnish of almonds and pistachios. It is very good for the children.

RASGULLA

Rasgulla

This soft and syrupy dessert is world famous as a Bengali dessert. It is made from ball-shaped dumplings of chhena (an Indian cottage cheese) and semolina dough with a light syrup made of sugar. There is no occasion or ceremony without the heavenly presence of this dessert.

MODAK

Modak

Modak is mainly popular in Maharashtra and Goa. It is a festival favourite sweet which is specially made on Ganesh Chaturthi as Bhog. Modak is sweet flour dumplings stuffed with coconut, jaggery, saffron and nutmeg.

KULFI

Pista Kulfi

Kulfi or Qulfi is a frozen dairy dessert which is sinfully rich, dense and creamy. It is also popularly known as ‘traditional ice-cream’. It comes in various flavours. The more traditrionally popular ones are cream, rose, mango, cardamom, saffron and pistachio. It is very dense that’s why it takes a longer time to melt than Western ice-cream.

KHEER

Kheer

Kheer is also famous as ‘payasam’. It is a Indian rice pudding which consist of ingredients rice, milk and sugar. Cardamom, nuts, rosewater also add to give a great flavor in it. It is also very ‘chuva’(lucky) to eat Kheer before doing a important work. It is famous all over India.

 CHAMCHAM

Chamcham

Chamcham is very much famous for its milky ingredient. It is a sweet comes in oval-shaped and the color of it is available in creamy white color. The ingredients of malai chamcham are milk (full cream), vinegar, sugar, saffron, water, cardamom, ghee, pistachios (for garnish). It is very soft and gives a delicious taste of milk. People mostly buy it from the sweet shops.

RASMALAI

Rasmalai

Rasmalai is a Bengali delicacy that is very popular among the Indian sweet lovers. It is a classic festive dessert made of milk, vinegar, sugar and saffron. It is mostly brought from the halwai or the sweet shops. It is also similar to the chamcham but it comes in two parts-  rasmalai balls and the thickened milk. For the thickened milk part people love it more than the chamcham.

SANDESH

Sandesh

Sandesh is a very soft melt-in-the-mouth dessert which is also a famous sweet of Bengal. People love it all over the country. It is made by khoya, cardamom and saffron and it is a festive food.

Every Indian sweet and dessert gives a special taste to the sweet lovers. In India, sweets are an integral part of the society and culture. Some of the desserts are also treat as a lucky dish before going outside or doing an important work. No celebration is celebrated without sweets. The Indian sweets are come with a health warning because the ingredients consist in the sweets cause fat in the body. But then also the sweets are famous in all over India. You also make these delicious mithais at your home and try the delicious taste of the Indian sweets and desserts.