My mother was an avid cook, actually she was a closet ‘chef’ and only very late in life did she pursue a part time venture in catering. I had spent most of my childhood on the kitchen parapet and most of my adulthood leaning against it. Unfortunately I never bothered to actually learn from her, I just stood there and watched. So what I ended up with was loads of cookery wisdom and zero practical knowledge. Anyway, a Bachelor’s course with ITC-WelcomGroup changed that but going back to my mom, one huge pearl of wisdom was – “Cook with all your senses. Feel with your fingers, inhale with your nose, taste with your mouth, look at the colors and textures with your eyes and most important hear the sizzling, the frying with your ears and you will never go wrong.” Though this can be applied to any cuisine in the world, I apply it most to when I make Indian sweets. You can’t beat the sound of ‘gulab jamuns’ frying in hot oil, the monotony of the ‘kadchi’ or ladle moving tirelessly through kilos of chickpea flour (‘besan’) sounds blissful to me and of course the fragrances … cooking spices can tickle your nose and whet your appetite but Indian sweets will make your mouth water right away.
The variety of Indian sweets available is unbelievable. But then you must have heard that about everything in India, the cuisines, the cultures, the languages! The most common ingredient for all the sweets across India could possibly be milk and dry fruits but the combinations with other local ingredients produces an assortment of tastes, textures, colors and shapes. North India produces sweets that are extremely dairy based maybe because Punjab is the dairy hub of India and the heart of the north. The milk is reduced over hours of simmering in a heavy pan to produce an ingredient called ‘khoya’ or ‘mawa’ or milk solids. ‘Khoya’ forms the base of almost every ‘burfi’ (I would avoid spelling it as 'barfi, though!), ‘laddoo’ and ‘peda’, it is also used as a garnish for a variety of winter ‘halva’s’. A lot of dry fruit is used as fillings or garnish, especially cashews and almonds, which also form the base of an extremely popular ‘burfi’, quite like its continental cousin the marzipan. Towards the East, the sweets get more exotic. The famous ‘sandesh’ from West Bengal (yes, that’s in the East of India) is a classic favorite and found all over India now. They are made from a variety of ingredients like chickpea flour (‘besan’), cottage cheese (paneer) and even coconut, curd and ‘khoya’. In the West, sweet foods are extremely popular, especially in Gujarat, where even regular food has a sweetened tinge. Their sweets use a lot wheat and refined flour along with jaggery and candied fruits and nuts. Down south the basic flavors remain constant but in a very different presentation, the ‘laddoo’s’ there look like the same ones seen up north, but one bite is all you need to have to know just how different the entire recipe actually is. South Indian sweets use fruits and vegetables extensively too, pumpkins and yams as well as bananas and coconut.
All in all, Indian sweets are rich and delicious, most confectioners have maintained their standardized recipes and still produce quality sweets made of high grade ingredients. All confectioners clearly state that their goods are perishables and need to be consumed within 24-48 hours. It is only now that some brands are marketing Indian sweets with longer shelf lives, it may be an endeavor to reach distant markets but it does compromise on the quality and actual taste of the product. Personally, I would say a ‘laddoo’ is way healthier than a chocolate bar, given the preservatives and the shelf life, I may just be right!
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