Indian Desserts
Indian cuisine is recognized throughout the World as a sweet cuisine, because almost half of its dishes are either sweets or desserts. Actually, Indian sweets or mithai have made Indian food famous throughout history, and they have been accommodated to European and North American menus. Every Indian sweet has a particular taste and takes a long time to prepare. Sweets are presented during festive occasions and ceremonies. Sweets also signify good omen, happiness and prosperity. In India every happy occasion is marked with the distribution of sweets.
It is well known that Indian cuisine uses a lot of herbs and spices in their food, so it is not uncommon to see unique flavors and fragrances in their desserts. They likewise incorporate a lot of milk, coconut milk, sugar, and dried fruits into their dishes. Another uncommon ingredient is rice, which is very abundant and widely eaten in all regions. Indian sweets can be divided into two main categories broadly. First category consists of milk-based sweets and the second category consists of flour-based sweets.
It was during 19th century renaissance in Bengal, Calcutta that witnessed the birth of several sweetmeat shops. Bengali sweets are not only famous in India but throughout the world. West Bengal is the undisputed king of sweet production.
Northen India produce a lot of buffalo milk, which is thicker than cow’s milk and forms very good quality mava when boiled and reduced. Therefore, sweets in this region are mainly made of khoya or mava. In the eastern part of India, cow`s milk is very abundant, so a lot of sweets are made of cottage cheese. Western part of India specialises in sweets like Puran poli, modak, Basundi etc. They are generally home made. South Indians use a lot of lentils and vegetables to make sweets and Halwa is a famous sweet eaten in South India.
Rassagolla, is a ball shaped dumpling made of chhena (an Indian cottage cheese) and semolina dough, cooked in light syrup made of sugar. It is one of the most popular sweetmeats in India, originated from the Eastern part of the country. Rasagolla was actually created in the temple town of Puri in the eastern state of Orissa, where it has been eaten since medieval times. The best rasagollas in Orissa are from the town of Salepur, near Cuttack . The fine art of making rasagollas was eventually transferred to Kolkata, West Bengal.
Another popular Indian dessert is the Payasam (or Kheer as it is called in Hindi). This dessert has been an essential dish throughout the history of India, being usually found at ceremonies, feasts and celebrations. In Southern India, it is believed that a wedding is not fully blessed if Payasam is not served at the wedding feast.
In the temples of Guruvayoor and Ambalappuzha the best and most popular Payasam dishes are found. In the Ambalappuzha temple, Payasam is served as part of a tradition, based on an ancient legend The legend states that Lord Krishna took the form of an old sage and challenged the king who ruled over that region to a game of chess. If victorious, the sage wanted an amount of rice grains for each square of the chess board, each pile having double the number of grains than the previous pile. Therefore, the first square would have only one grain of rice, the second would have 2 grains and the third would have 4 grains, and so on. The king lost, so he started placing grain piles on each square, starting with only one grain. He soon realized that by the 40th square or so, the entire kingdom`s rice reserve had finished and when he got to the last square he calculated that he would have to pay the sage 18,447,744 trillions of tons of rice, which was not possible for the King to pay back at a time. The sage then revealed his true form, that of Lord Krishna, and said that the king did not have to pay the debt then or at a go but the king would have to serve Payasam free of cost in the temple of Ambalappuzha, to pilgrims. The tradition of freely serving Payasam in Ambalappuzha is still continued.
Another dessert worth mentioning is The Shrikhand from Western India. It is a creamy dessert made out of strained yogurt, from which all water is drained off, leaving the thick yogurt cream. Preparation of this dish is very simple but it takes some time to process yogurt properly.A popular variation of shrikhand in Maharashtra is Amrakhand, which is shrikhand blended with mango pulp.
Listed below are some of the other popular sweets:
Gaajar ka halwa - rich carrot pudding loaded with nuts and dried fruits. It is traditionally eaten during all of the festivals in India, mainly on the occasion of Diwali, Holi, Eid al-Fitr and Raksha Bandhan
Gujia - sweet dumpling made with suji or Maida flour wheat flour and stuffed with khoya.
Gulab jamun - dumplings traditionally made of thickened or reduced milk, soaked in rose flavored sugar syrup or honey. It is often served at weddings and birthday parties
Jalebi - Dough fried in a coil shape dipped in sugar syrup, often taken with milk, tea, yogurt, or lassi. It is typically eaten during national holidays, like Independence Day and Republic Day.
Kaju katli - also known as kaju Katari or kaju barfi, It is a dish made of cashew nut paste mixed with syrup. It is traditionally eaten during Diwali.
Kheer - creamy rice pudding is delicately flavoured with cardamom and full of nuts. It is typically served during a meal or as a dessertKulfi - an ice cream made with milk and sugar, with a variety of flavours such as mango, saffron, or cardamom. It is denser and creamier compared to ice cream. Traditional flavors are cream (malai), rose, mango, cardamom (elaichi), saffron (kesar or zafran), and pistachio.
Phirni - Creamy pudding delicately flavored with cardamom and saffron
Rabri - made with dahi (yogurt), flour, and a combination of bajre ki roti. It is usually eaten at lunch. It may be eaten hot as soup, but it is usually kept overnight. Cumin seeds (zeera), dry fruits, etc., can be used as garnish.
Ras malai - sweet dumplings made from cottage or riccotta cheese soaked in sweetened, thickened milk delicately flavored with cardamom. Serve it chilled and garnished with slivers of dried fruit. It has also been described as a “rich cheesecake without a crust”
Shahi Tukda - rich bread pudding with dry fruits, flavored with cardamom.
Sandesh –from fine cheese made from cow's milk kneaded with fine ground sugar or molasses. This is a sweet from West Bengal and Odisha. It comes in two varieties, "Norom Pak" (the softer version) and "Koda Pak" (the harder version).
Sohan papdi - Its main ingredients are sugar, gram flour derived from chick peas, flour, ghee, milk, and cardamom. It is usually cube-shaped or served as flakes, and has a crisp and flaky texture.
Suzi Halva - Halva refers to many types of dense, sweet confections, served across the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Balkans, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Malta and the Jewish world. Sooji halwa is slightly gelatinous and made from grain flour, typically semolina. The primary ingredients are clarified butter, flour, and sugar. It is made on religious occasions as an offering.
References:
http://www.swadrestaurant.com/indian-dishes/introduction-to-indian-desserts
http://indianfood.indianetzone.com/1/indian_sweets.htm
https://www.thespruce.com/north-indian-desserts-1957854
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_sweets_and_desserts
http://list.ly/list/NBM-top-15-indian-sweets-and-desserts
Austin Sun
HC1
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