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.