Happy Diwali! The day I’m releasing this episode is Diwali 2025. Such a big part of Diwali is gifting and eating sweets, or mithai as it is known in many parts of India. Today we are going to talk about many of the most popular Indian sweets.
If you didn’t check out the last episode about the history and traditions of Diwali, give that a listen when you have time.
For today, let’s talk about mithai.
History of Mithai
South Asian cuisine is no stranger to sweets with the Indus Valley Civilization learning to refine sugar over 8,000 years ago.1
The Manasollasa, an ancient Indian text from around 1100CE contains a recipe for payasam, also known as kheer, which is still popular today. There are also recipes for a donut like sweet named golamu, a fried cake in syrup named gharikas, and a cheese and rice flour fritter in syrup called chhana.1 All of these sweets may have been the precursors to galum jamun and rasgulla.
Like most things in India, it is difficult to categorize sweets in India. There is a huge diversity of sweets which changes based on regions and communities. The sweets of Bengal do not usually resemble the sweets of Kerala. We will focus on the Indian sweets that are most commonly found here in North America brought with our parents and grandparents who immigrated here years ago.
To make things easier on us, I will break down the sweets into categories: diary based, fried, primarily nuts, and primarily sugar.
Diary based mithai
Let’s start with diary based mithai. There are many of these and they are some of the most popular and recognizable mithai.
Kheer is an Indian sweet similar to pudding. It can also be called payesh or payasam in other parts of India. As I mentioned, this is the sweet that was recorded in the Manasollasa over a millenia ago. It is made by boiling milk, sugar, rice and vermicelli. Then you can garnish it with dried fruits, nuts, cardamom, and saffron. Kheer is actually pretty easy to make at home and with ingredients from the American grocery store if you are new to Indian cuisine.3 It is a common and easy puja prasadham.
Barfi is made from the dairy product khoya, which I described in detail earlier this year in the episode about paneer and Indian cheeses. In addition to khoya, cashews, pistachios, mango, or other nuts and fruits can be added to make barfi. For those who have never had barfi, it is usually a small bar made from milk that has a consistency similar to fudge. It is sometimes colorful depending on what other ingredients were added. For example, barfi with pistachio can be green and barfi with mango can be orange. Additional flavors or garnishes include cardamom, saffron, and rosewater.2
Rasgulla is a sweet made from a type of dairy called chhena. I also talked about chhena in detail in the paneer episode so check that out if you want more information. I will put a link in the show notes. The chhena is made into a ball of soft cheese and then a clear, light sugar syrup is poured on top. The syrup soaks into the chhena which makes rasgulla very moist and tender.10
A similar, but unique dish is ras malai. Ras malai also has chhena, but the chhena is usually flattened into disks. Then, the disks are cooked in a sugar-water mix. Finally the disks are soaked in milk and usually garnished with saffron, pistachios, rose water, and cardamom. The three main differences between rasgulla and ras malai are the shape of the chhena – round versus flattened, the cooking of the ras malai chhena in sugar-water, and soaking in sugar-water for rasgulla versus soaking in milk for ras malai.11
Gulab jamun is made from khoya which is milk reduced to the consistency of a soft dough. The khoya is kneaded with maida which is similar to western all-purpose flour and rolled into small balls of dough. Then the dough is deep fried in oil or ghee at a low temperature. Finally, it is soaked in a sugar syrup and garnished with some combination of cardamom, rose water, and saffron. It can be served hot or cold.12
Peda is another sweet made from khoya. It is usually served in disks although other shapes are possible. This sweet is sometimes offered as puja pradham because it is said to be Krishna’s favorite sweet. It is also commonly distributed to guests when a baby boy is born.13 A sweet we will talk about next, jalebi, is distributed when a baby girl is born.
Fried mithai
We will move on to fried sweets now.
Jalebi is deep fried maida flour. As I described in the Indian breads episode, maida is most closely associated with western all-purpose flour; although, it is a bit different. The fried batter is then soaked in a sugar syrup. The shape resembles a spiral or a disorganized pretzel. Jalebi is often eaten with yogurt. It is mostly associated with North and East Indian cuisines of the Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, and Assamese speaking communities. Jalebi should be at least 600 years old because it is mentioned by the Jain author Jinasura as part of a dinner in 1450CE.7
Jangari is a similar sweet to jalebi. It is made from deep frying black gram flour into a flower-like shape. The fried batter is then soaked in syrup. Jangari is usually thicker and less sweet than jalebi. In addition, saffron is usually added to jangari batter which makes it bright orange. Also jangari is usually associated with South Indian cuisines while jalebi is more closely associated with North India.8 I have a special fondness for jangari because it was my favorite sweet as a child.
Laddu is a round sweet that can be made from a variety of ingredients. The most common variety are besan laddus which are made from chickpea flour and then fried. Then they are powdered with sugar and cardamom. My favorite type of laddu is motichoor laddu made from boondi. Boondi are tiny fried balls of chickpea batter and in the case of motichoor laddu, the boondi is soaked in sugar syrup. Other varieties of laddu include those made from khoya, coconut, sesame seeds, wheat flour, and rice flour.4
Nut based mithai
There are several popular nut based mithai.
The most popular might be kaju katli. Kaju katli is a sweet made from cashews soaked in water overnight and then ground into a paste. Then a syrup is made from sugar that is boiled to a very specific consistency. The consistency is correct when two objects, usually the makers fingers, are dipped into the solution and then a single thread forms when the objects are pulled apart. Then the syrup is added to the ground cashew paste. Then the paste is spread and flattened into a shallow flat dish and cut into rhombus shaped pieces reminiscent of diamonds. Usually, decorative edible silver foil is added on top.9
Chikki is made from nuts and jaggery. It is most commonly made from ground peanuts, but it can be made from chickpeas, sesame, puffed rice, cashews, pistachios, or almonds. To make chikki, nuts are added to hot jaggery syrup to coat the nuts. Then the nuts are transferred to a wooden mould and rolled onto a flat plate for cooling. Then the slab is cut into squares.14
Sugar based mithai
Soan papdi is a sugar based sweet with many thin strands. It has a flaky and cripsy texture and melts in your mouth. While it looks and feels very different in the hand, the mouthfeel reminds me of cotton candy.
Mysore pak is typically a square bar made from besan, sugar, and ghee. It originated in the royal palaces of the Kingdom of Mysore in present day Karnataka. It has a texture sort of like fudge but it is crumbly as well. It is well loved for its melts-in-your-mouth texture. Mysore pak is made by cooking sugar syrup and then gradually adding besan and hot ghee. Steam escapes from the syrup through the gram flour which makes the sweet porous. Ratios of sugar, ghee, and besan are extremely important to get the correct texture. I’ll admit that this is a sweet I haven’t tried to make at home.5
Halwa can have a variety of textures. Some are like an oatmeal consistency, but some are shaped like discs, diamonds, or small bars. In India, halwa is usually made from semolina, which is known as kesari in South India. But halwa can be made from a variety of ingredients such as carrot, banana, or besan.6
There are many other sweets that I cannot discuss here. Indian cuisine is incredibly diverse and I can’t possibly cover them all now. Stay tuned for future episodes by subscribing to this podcast on your favorite podcast player or joining the Cook Like An Aunty community.
I’d really appreciate it if you told me your favorite Indian sweet by emailing me at contact [at] cooklikeanaunty [dot] com.
Thank you for listening! You can find a transcript and the sources used to make this episode on cooklikeanaunty.com/sweets. You can also find recipes for popular Indian dishes on the website or the Cook Like An Aunty YouTube channel. Links in the show notes.
Thanks for listening and see you next time!
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweets_from_the_Indian_subcontinent
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barfi
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheer
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laddu
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore_pak
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halva
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalebi
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imarti
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaju_katli
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasgulla
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_malai
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulab_jamun
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peda
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikki