What's life without a little sweetness? Sweets have always been an integral part of Indian cuisine, with milk based sweets being a predominant feature. While they maybe little bit over sweet to western palates, it would be worth remembering that most Indian sweets aids in digestion and is normally consumed after heavy meals.
A Indian meal remains incomplete without a serve of sweet dish at the end.
Khir
Ingredients
Milk 2 liters
Sugar 4 tbsp
Rice 3-4 tbsp
Few raisins
Sliced almonds
Chopped cashew nuts
Method:
- Heat milk in a large pan.
- Simmer until it is reduced to 3 quarters its original volume.
- Add sugar and continue cooking until milk is reduced to half and thickens.
- Add the raisins, almonds and chopped cashew nuts.
- Remove from heat. Cool and serve.
Rosogulla
Ingredients
Cottage Cheese 1 kg
Sugar 1 liter
Water 1.5 liter
Ghee 4 tbsp
Semolina 2 tsp
Standard flour 2 tsp
Rose Water few drops
Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
Method:
Sugar Syrup
- In a pan add the water and the sugar and boil them together for 20 to 30 minutes and let them thicken.
Rosogulla Balls
- In a big bowl add the cottage cheese, ghee, semolina, cardamom powder, and standard flour.
- Add all the mixteures together until it forms a dough.
- Knead the dough evenly until and unless your palms become oily.
- Now make small balls of 1 1/2 inch diameter.
- Add these balls in the boiling sugar syrup and let them get cooked in the boiling sugar syrup for 25 minutes.
- This will make them spongy.
- Remove the pan from heat and after 10 minutes add the rose water essence.
Jalebi
Ingredients
plain flour 200 gms (maida)
gram flour 20 gms (besan)
sugar 200 gms
few drops yellow colour
Milk 2 tbsp
ghee to deep fry
a plastic easy squeeze bottle
Method:
- Sieve 100 gms maida and besan together.
- Make a batter using warn water.
- Keep aside for 24 hours.
- Add remaining maida and food colour and more warm water if required.
- The batter should fall easily when poured Keep aside.(Not too thick not too thin)
- Make syrup of the sugar by adding water and boiling.
- Add the milk and all the scum to form while boiling.
- Make one string syrup. Strain.
- Fill bottle with batter.
- Heat ghee well in a shallow frying pan and form jalebis in the form of concentric circles about 2 inches on the outside.
- Fry till crisp, drop into hot syrup.
- Drain with a perforated spoon, serve hot.
Tips The nozzle of the easy squeeze bottle should have a hole the thickness of a knitting needle.
Sheera
Ingredients
whole milk 1 cup
condensed milk 1/2 cup
ghee(clarified butter) 4 tbsp
sooji (rawa or semolina) 4 tbsp
cardamom powder 1 tsp
raisins 2 tbsp
almonds sliced fine 1 tbsp
Method:
- Melt the ghee in a non stick pan.
- Add the rawa and fry until the rawa turns golden brown.
- Mix the milk and the condensed milk in a pan and set aside.
- Add the rava to the milk mixture and the add the cardmom powder and stir well.
- Cook until dry and the ghee separates from the rawa.
- Add the raisins and stir well.
- Remove from heat and garnish with almonds.
Tips Serve either hot or chilled.
Gajar Halwa
Ingredients
carrots 6 (grated finely)
milk 3 cups
sugar 1 cup
mawa 1/2 cup (powdered milk)
khoya 3 tsp (ricotta cheese)
almonds 1/8 cup (chopped)
cardamoms 5 (skinned and crushed fine)
pistachios 2-3 (powdered)
ghee 1/4 cup (clarified butter)
raisins 1 tsp
Method:
- Cook the carrots in the milk in an open pan on a low flame with constant stirring.
- When the carrots are done, take them out and drain any excess milk.
- Add the milk powder(mava), the ricotta cheese and the sugar to the carrots.
- Heat the ghee in a frying pan, add the carrot mixture and keep on high flame until the carrot paste loses the milky texture and becomes golden brown and the sugar is totally dissolved.
- Add the raisins, cardamoms, powdered pistas and the almonds.
- Heat through and serve either hot or cold with cream on the side.
Sevai Payasam
Ingredients
vermicelli 200 gms
ghee 1/2 cup
milk 1 1/2 liters
sugar 100 gms
cashew nuts 2-3 tsp
raisins 1 tsp
cardamom powder 1/4 spoon
Method:
- Heat the ghee and fry the vermicelli until a golden brown.
- Mix in the cashew nuts and the raisins.
- Add milk and boil for 5 minutes.
- Mix in the sugar and stir till the sugar is dissolved.
- Stir in the cardamom powder and serve hot or warm.
