It is Diwali, and it is not only a festival of lights, but also a festival of sweets. India has a long and rich tradition of sweets or ‘sweet’, which has immense importance in Indian culture. Of course, we all know that sweets signify happiness, celebration, good omen and prosperity, and no festival, ceremony or occasion can be complete without Indian sweets. In fact, every happy occasion is marked with the distribution of sweets.
Sweets are an integral part of India, not surprisingly, as the art of refining sugar was invented here 8,000 years ago during the Indus Valley Civilization. We make sweets from almost everything in India. Of course, we make sweets out of milk, sugar and ghee, but we also use wheat, fruits, vegetables, roots, dried fruits, even eggs, cheese and meat. Our sweets are cooked, baked, roasted, steamed, boiled, fried and even frozen.
Many years ago, I was exploring the inner lanes of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, hot ‘Jalebi and Rabri’ in Old Delhi’s famous ‘Jalebi Wala’, hot ‘moong dal ka halwa’ laden with ghee from Churuwala Marwari, Kuremal Mohanlal Kulfiwala’s pomegranate. Kulfi at Pandit Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan’s shop, and Gulab and Kesar Kulfi and embarrassingly delicious, deep fried parathas, filled with milky rabri and khurchan. Hold on, “Khurchan” is the elder brother of the uninitiated ‘Rabri’. It is made from the cream that rises when a large amount of milk comes to a boil. As it thickens, a thin layer of cream appears over the milk, the ‘confectioner’ takes a thin stick and gently lifts the top layer of the condensed milk and keeps it aside. Once again as the milk thickens and becomes more layer on the top of the pot, the ‘Halwai’ will separate the creamy layers. This goes on until most of the milk has boiled away and a mound of cream has collected. Once this mound is set, they sprinkle powdered sugar or what is called ‘Karara’ on it. I don’t know if I have explained it enough, but believe me, there is nothing better than ‘Khurchan’, and if you take this ‘Khurchan’ and stuff it inside a deep ghee fried paratha, it will Is a cholesterol bomb, worth the health risk. But while admiring the sweets on the roadside of Chandni Chowk, I was deluded. So, as I was saying, I was exploring the inner lanes of Chandni Chowk and I came across a sweet shop which is closed since then. The ‘Ghantewala’ famous for its sohan halwa was so old that his ancestors claim that he had catered the wedding of the son of the last Mughal emperor in Old Delhi. Such is the history of India and its sweets.
In fact, the oldest documented sweet dish is believed to be ‘Malpua’. We know it as the Indian version of Crepe Suzette, the better version. The Rigveda, dating back 3,500 years, mentions a sweet dish called ‘apupa’, which is described as a flat cake made of barley flour, fried in ghee and dipped in honey. Very close to today’s Malpua, which is a ‘maida’ pancake that is deep fried in ghee until crisp and then soaked in saffron syrup. Eggs are also added to some dishes.
Which brings me to another Indian dessert which is deep fried and then dipped in syrup – ‘Jalebi’. Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi’s cookbook Kitab-al-Tabikh states that ‘jalebi’ comes from zalabiya, a Persian dish made from fried yeast dough and then dipped in a syrup of honey and rose water. is immersed. We are quite close to making a ‘jalebi’ that is crisp and juicy, a delicate spiral that needs to be eaten while it is hot. Large size ‘Jalebi’ is made in Indore and it is called ‘Jaleba’ and then ‘Imarti’ is definitely there, which is a form of ‘Jalebi’ but is different. Imarti is shaped like a flower and is made from urad dal flour instead of maida, and is also called ‘Jangiri’ since its history goes back to the Mughals.
Then there is the ‘Petha’ of Agra. I actually went to see how it was made and was shocked to learn that this translucent soft candy was made from ash gourd (white pumpkin). Legend says that while the Taj Mahal was being built, Shah Jahan ordered his royal kitchen to make white sweets like the Taj Mahal, and that was when ‘petha’ was invented.
‘Rasgulla’ is not only the zenith of Bengali ‘sweet’, but also the origin of many Bengali sweets. But is it Bengali sweet or Oriya? When you are driving into Pahala on a stretch of highway from Kolkata to Puri, you see queues and queues of shops selling sweets. You can try freshly made ‘Chhena Poda’ (a cheese cake with sugar, and ‘semolina’, wrapped in Sal tree leaves and baked for several in a log fire to brown) and ‘Chhena Gaja’ (Cheese ) Can get. sugar and semolina, boiled and sometimes fried after boiling, and coated in sugar syrup), and bowls and jars of ‘rasgol’ by the hundreds. These proud Oriya confectioners claim to be the first to make ‘Rasgulla’ for over 100 years. Which brings us to the popular argument “Who invented ‘rasagols’?” Many insist that Rasgulla is a variant of “Kheer Mohan”, which was first developed into Rasgulla by the makers. But do I care about the fight between KC Das and Oriya? Not me, I am glad that ‘Rasgulla’ exists and along with it there are variants like ‘Ras Malai’ and ‘Chom Chom’.
Whereas in India ‘Gulab Jamun’, ‘Khaja’, ‘Kheer’, ‘Paysam’, all types of ‘Laddus’, ‘Srikhand’, ‘Peda’, ‘Barfi’, ‘Gujiya’, Balushahi’, ‘Mysore Pak’ , ‘Chikki’, ‘Holige’, ‘Anarsa’ and ‘Bebinka’, let me end with one such ‘sweet’ which is exceptional in texture, shape, method and taste – ‘Ghevar’. Traditionally, Rajasthani Ghevar is popular in most parts of North and West India. It is a honeycomb shaped disc that requires patience and talent to make. The ‘Ghevar’ batter is made from flour and ghee, which is deep fried in a mold or a pan. The ‘Ghevar’ takes the shape of a mould, and the batter needs to be poured over cold water to form a crisp lattice, which when crisp is dipped in sugar syrup. You can garnish Ghevar with chopped nuts and rabri.
Oh, I could go on and on about Indian sweets because there are just too many. Each state, region and district makes some variations on their local sweets. Sweets are found not only in the shops but also in the streets. We don’t just eat sweets as a dessert after a meal, we eat sweets before, during and after the meal. We eat sweets for breakfast like the famous ‘Fafda Jalebi’ from Gujarat or the sweet ‘Sheera’ from Maharashtra. Gajar ka halwa is often enjoyed at tea time and gram flour ladoos throughout the day. So when other Indians say, “Kuch sweet ho jaye”, they mean now.
Kunal Vijaykar is a food writer based in Mumbai. He tweets @kunalvijayakar and can be followed on Instagram @kunalvijayakar. What is the name of his YouTube channel? The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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