Traditional indian sweets

This is the second part of the indian sweets. The first post was all about the home made sweet dishes. This one is about the other popular indian sweets that I relish eating -

• Madurai iruttu kadai halwa - the iruttu kadai is a popular shop in madurai that is famous for their halwa. I was introduced to this sweet by my dad. Whenever he used to visit Madurai on official trips, he made sure he got us this popular sweet. We were such big fans of this sweet that we would request his colleagues to buy them for us when they visited Madurai. When we finally traveled to madurai for vacation, my dad took us to the shop. It is a very small shop with no frills or decorations. People wait in queues to just buy the halwa. If you ask for one, they will just wrap one helping of that sweet in a mandharai leaf and hand it over to you to eat it. I have never tasted something like this in any other shop. The sweet actually tastes even more delicious when you refrigerate it. 

• Jalebi - when you talk about Jhangiri, how could one forget the other sweet from the same family. Memories of going to the a popular sweet shop near our house that was famous for their jalebis come to my mind. Since they were thin and crispy, one can easily have 3-4 of them in one serving. When you are served piping hot, crispy jalebis, how can you stop with just one piece. 

• Soan papadi - there are two variants to this sweet - one is the solid cube shaped sweet dish that are sold in the sweet shops. The other is the variant that is sold by the street vendors. These have a flaky texture. They are stored in a big glass container. When you ask for one, the street vendor would just wrap up a portion of the flakes in a cone shaped paper that will tempt you to finish it off in a few seconds. Although it is not hygienic, these taste better than the ones sold in sweet shops. Although I crave for those flaky strands of soan papadi, I know that I will never have the heart to buy this street food for health reasons.

        

Sold by street vendors

Sweet delicacy sold in shops

• Wheat halwa - another favorite of mine. this is one that always manages to catch my eye in the sweet shop.

• Rasagullah and rasmalai - these are two sweets that are made from milk. Of the two i prefer the rasagullah. The best is to just pick one by hand and take a big bite. For some reason, we have always bought the packed rasagullahs from the stores - Haldirams or MTR. I have tasted the rasmalai only in wedding feasts and in restaurants.

Rasagullah

Rasmalai

• Basundi - wow, am surprised by how many sweets can be made with that single ingredient - milk. 

• Kaju katli - although this is one of the most expensive sweets, all it takes to prepare this sweet dish is two ingredients - cashew and sugar. This is one sweet that will always remain as one of my favorites. I just can't stop myself from having just one piece.

• Badam halwa - who knew that a sweet made of badam, could be so delicious. I love the packing that they do for this sweet. It is usually wrapped in a butter paper and served at restaurants or weddings. A little bit of saffron can actually make it more exotic and delicious.

• Chandra kala and Surya kala - another favorite that we buy everytime we go to the sweet shop. There are two variants based on the filling they add. I have never been able to find out what filling is sold in which shop. I like the one that has the khova as the filling.

• Mysurpak - the early memories of mysurpak is the one that I have had in the wedding feasts as a child. They were a little hard and crunchy. And then came krishna sweets with their traditional mysurpa. The day I took a first bite of this sweet, I got hooked to this sweet dish. They are so soft and just melt in your tongue.

• Paal peni - i was surprised when many people did not know about this sweet. It is considered unique and expensive. It is unique since this is one sweet that cannot be eaten just like that. It has no taste. It has to be mixed with a sweet dish and milk. It is usually mixed with ladoo. One has to crush the paal peni and the boondi ladoo together, pour a little milk and mix all the three together. Plain sugar can also be used as a substitute for the boondhi ladoo. As a person who has tasted both the versions, let me say this - only use the sugar option if you have run out of stock of ladoo or if you are lazy to go and buy them 😊. If you want to make it more delicious, then use badam milk instead of plain milk. The result is worth it!!!

• Pal kova - this is a simple milk sweet that we used to prepare at home with just two basic ingredients - milk and sugar. My mom finally lost patience in cooking since we need to keep stirring the mix in the stove for a long time to get the right consistency. So finally we started buying the Aavin milk kova sweet. I used to buy one small packet and finish it off, by myself. 

Home made sweets and local delicacies

One of the things I miss during these Covid days are the sweets that we used to buy. Oh, I wish I could drive to one of those sweet shops and buy one of each variety. 

I immediately decided that the least I can do is write a post on my favorite Indian sweets. I was surprised by the sheer number of the sweet dishes and realized that one post would not be able to do justice to all of them.

Here is the list of sweets that are predominantly home made - 

• Rava kesari - the most easiest sweet to prepare at home. I don't think we have ever bought this from any sweet shop. This is the first choice to make at home for any function. This dish is prepared with two basic ingredients - rava and sugar. At home, we usually add cashew nuts and dry grapes.

• Carrot halwa - the only sweet I am guessing that is good for health. Again this is one, we never buy from the shop. I only love the one my mom makes. I step away from the ones that are made in restaurants, social gatherings or even made by anyone else other than my mom. Carrot and sugar are the basic ingredients that are needed for this sweet dish. Just like rava kesari, cashew nuts and dry grapes make them more delicious

• Payasam - I don't think there is any household that does not know how to make payasam. There are different variants. The two usual variants that they make in our family are - one with jaggery and dal, another with milk, vermicelli, sagoo and sugar (called white or vellai payasam). Unlike the others in the family, I prefer the vermicelli payasam. On days when they make the other type of payasam, I just ignore the sweet dish.

• Kozhukottai - another sweet that has many variations. I have seen many families in Chennai make kozhukottai's at home. Unfortunately, Iam a little choosy that way. I just can't bring myself to have them. Not just preference, I can only have the ones that are made at home or by our relatives since we all do it the same way. There are two variations to this sweet dish - one is prepared of rice flour that is filled with sesame and jaggery mix and then steamed. The other is prepared by mixing the rice flour with jaggery and then steamed. I love both of them and can munch on more than 3 pieces at a time.

Kozhukottai

• Gulab jamun - it is one of those easiest sweet to cook at home, thanks to those ready to make packets that are sold. An all time favorite. I still remember how a family friend (a grand mother figure to me) used to make gulab jamun from milk and khova. It was the most tastiest gulab jamuns I have ever had.

• Simbli - this is something that is not sold in sweet shops. It is a local delicacy and takes a lot of hard work and patience to make it. We were excited when we found a sweet shop in our native place that sold this. Although it did not taste exactly like how we make at home, it was close to it. A dough is prepared using ragi flour. Small pieces of the dough are flattened using a rolling pin and cooked on a tawa. The sesame, jaggery, roasted groundnuts are then pounded using hand on the traditional stone grinder along with the ragi bread pieces that were cooked.

Simbli

• Paruppu urundai - a very simple sweet and my favorite. Everyone at home know that this is my favorite of all the sweets. It is prepared by grinding the boiled dal with jaggery. Small balls are made from this mix and the balls are dipped in maida flour to cover the dough. The balls are then fried in oil. Another local delicacy that is prepared only in our homes. The quickest way is to eat this fried urundai as is. This is how it is also served to guests. But at home, we take it in a different way - one has to crumble two to three pieces of the sweet, add a little milk and ghee and mix them. Then eat it. Oh my!! no other sweet can beat the taste. At my grand mother's place, we don't usually use an electric mixer to grind the dal and jaggery. This is done with hand on a traditional stone tool. And that adds to the taste. It is much more delicious than made on an electric mixer.

• Oppattai - a variant of the paruppu urundai. It looks like a sweet poli. That is where the similarity ends. After the ball is done, it is placed inside a small quantity of maida dough and then a rolling pin is used to make a round flat bread. It is then heated on a tawa.

• Adhirasam - another sweet we have never bought from sweet shops. In fact, I just can't bring myself to eat the version we get in sweet shops or prepared in anyone's house unless it is from someone who has made it in my native place. There are two versions of the adirasam they make in our families - chakkarai adhirasam (the one made with sugar) and vellam adhirasam (the one made with jaggery). My favorite is the vellam adhirasam.

Chakkarai adhirasam

Vellam adhirasam

• Vellam vadai - this is another sweet dish that I have never seen anyone cooking it except in the families in my native place. The adhirasam and vellam vadai are made only twice a year, during  deepavalli and pongal. The vellam vadai is always made in small quantities compared to the adhirasam. I have still not understood the logic because invariably all of us like the vellam vadai more than the adhirasam. The vellam vadai is the sweet version of the medhu vadai. Only difference is the the ingredient. This one uses ulutham paruppu and jaggery. Again the ones that are mixed by hand on the traditional grinding stone tastes better than electric mixer.

Vellam vadai

Adhirasam and vellam vadai - The easiest way to eat them both is just to eat them as is. But wait, we are always different and so there is a second way to have them - one that takes some time and effort!!! This is an elaborate process and this is the first thing that everyone does when they sit to have their lunch during the two festivals - deepavali and pongal. 

What we do is - mix the adhirasam, vellam vadai and banana. Yes, it may not sound nice, but trust me it takes sooooo goood. For one serving per person, use two adhirasams, one vellam vadai and one banana. Crumble the adhirasams and vadai and then smash the banana. Mix them on hand and voila you have the sweet - you just have to eat it to understand how it tastes. No words can describe it. After the festival day, my dad usually prepares this sweet mix at home. We then store them in a container for 2-3 days and eat small quantities of this sweet delicacy whenever we want to.

Sweet dish - after the mix

• Ukaaram - a sweet dish made of rice flour and jaggery. It is not prepared regularly since it is an elaborate process and needs a lot of time and effort. One needs to continue mixing the flour and jaggery as it gets cooked slowly until it reaches the right consistency. A favorite of my dad's. 

• Rava ladoo and besan ladoo - rava ladoo is a sweet dish that can be prepared in very less time. Another popular sweet dish that is prepared at home. Besan ladoo is not something we make quite often at home although it is easy to prepare one.

• Kadum paal and milk sweet - this is a sweet that is unique and is not something that you can prepare any time. It can be only made from the first milk that is got from a cow after it has given birth to the calf. Iam guessing that the first milk right after birth is different from the milk that is received on the next few days. When one of the cows give birth, this first milk is given as a gift to close relatives in our native place. There are two sweet dishes that are made from this - one is the kadum paal (which is the liquid version). It is semi brown in color. The other variation is a sweet that is made out of this milk (this look a little like custard). Everyone loves and prefers the kadum paal than the milk sweet. I guess Iam the only one who does not like the paal, but prefer the sweet.

• Puttu - this sweet dish is prepared using rice flour and jaggery. This post is only about the sweet version that we prepare at home. Rice flour grounded specially for puttu is steamed, mixed with jaggery and then served as a sweet dish. Some of the folks in our family prefer to mix puttu with milk.

Now for the sweets that are local delicacies (popular in the sweet shops at my native place) - 

• Makkan peda - this is a local favorite. Only the sweet shops in my native place sell this one. It looks like a big dry gulab jamun. Every time my grand parents visit us, this is one item they never miss to get us. This sweet is usually sold out in a few hours.Most of the popular shops make fresh batches in the morning and evening.

Makkan peda

• Jhangiri - that orange or red color small sweet made of flour. Although I have bought and sampled the jhangiri in the sweet shops in Chennai, the ones that we get in my native place are different. They are small in size and are bright orange/red in color.

• Boonthi - another all time favorite. The ones that we get in the sweet shops in our native place are small oval shaped and yellow in color. I have been craving for this sweet for a long time. Adding a dollop of ghee to this sweet makes it more delicious!!

Makkachozham or American sweet corn

I have childhood memories of eating the locally grown corn called as "Makkachozham" in Thamizh. At my native place, these are freshly harvested from the nearby farms, allowed to boil in water and then sold by the vendors on the roads or near railway stations, bus stops. 

Since they are boiled in water, they are piping hot when you buy them. One has to remove the top layer and the hairy strands that surround the corn before eating. 

This local variety and the american sweet corns that are bought from the stores vary in taste. Although I do like the corns that are sold in the stores, I will always prefer the local variety especially the fresh ones. Iam very sure that the local variety is far more healthier than the ones that are bought from stores.

Makkachozham -