Favourite Indian Sweets

There are a great variety of Indian sweets and desserts, the wide range ensured by the profuse use of rice, vermicelli, ground wheat, milk and a host of other ingredients. Traditionally Indiand serve a sweet at the beginning of a meal as a gesture of goodwill, although today in many South African Indian homes, this custom is falling away. In keeping with the western influence, the sweet dish may be served at the end of the meal as the hostess endeavours to lull the most voracious of appetites into quiet appreciation and to placate those with a sweet tooth. There are many western sweet dishes that are great favourites on Indian tables. Halwas and lagans may be called the equivalent of western puddings and mithais may be compared to fudge, although strictly there can be no comparison as they are quite different, and who could ever forget Burfee once they have tasted it?

My first introduction to Indian sweets came the year I started work and our Indian staff members brought Diwali cakes to share at work. Having an unbelievable sweet tooth, I could have eaten the lot in one go. I loved them! My plan is to share some of them here, the easier to make ones that is as some are very complicated to make. My absolute favourite has to be Gulaab Jamun, or Indian Doughnuts.

Galaab Jamun - Indian Doughnuts

Ingredients:
For the doughnuts:
325ml flour
3ml bicarbonate of soda
10ml baking powder
30ml semolina
3ml finely ground cardamom powder
30ml ghee
1 tin condensed milk
Ghee or vegetable oil for deep frying

For the syrup:
250ml water
375ml sugar
5ml rose water

Method:
Put the dry ingredients and the cardamom powder in a bowl. Rub in the ghee then blend in the condensed milk to make a soft dough. Roll the dough into a thick sausage and cut off 1 cm pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage the length and thickness of a forefinger. These can also be made as round balls if you prefer.

Deep-fry these in batches over medium heat. The fat should not be too hot or the doughnuts will not swell. Remove from the fryer with a slotted spoon when golden brown and drain on kitchen paper. Meanwhile, prepare the syrup.

Boil together the water, sugar and rose water until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is beginning to thicken. Reduce the heat to very low so as to just keep warm.

Once the doughnut balls have drained off any residual oil, plunge them into the syrup for about 30 seconds. Remove from the syrup with a clean slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack. Allow them to cool before serving.

Marie Biscuit Date Delights

Marie Biscuits are one of the favourite biscuits in South Africa,
the UK equvalent of which would be Sweet Tea Biscuits.

Ingredients:
2 packets of Marie Biscuits, crushed in chunks, not crumbled
250g butter
250ml sugar
750g pitted dates, chopped
1 egg, beaten
30ml coconut

Method:
Place the butter and sugar in a pot and melt together. Add the chopped dates and simmer gently until the mixture is soft and well blended. Allow to cool slightly before adding the egg. Add the beaten egg, blending into the mixture quickly so the egg does not scramble. Finally add the crushed biscuits.

Spread the mixture on greased baking trays, flattening smoothly. Sprinkle the top with desicated coconut. Leave in the fridge for about an hour to set. Cut into slices or squares.


Larwa - Almond Balls
Ingredients:
For the syrup:
500g suagr
250ml water
For the Lawa Balls:
500ml chana flour
7.5ml baking powder
10ml solid ghee
250ml water
10ml egg yellow colouring
slivered almonds
Method:
To make the Syrup:
Put the sugar in a pan with the water and heat to disolve. Simmer until the syrup becomes sticky, but does not form threads. Remove it to the side of the stove so that it keeps warm.
To make the Lawa Balls:
Mix together the chana flour and baking powder and rub in the ghee. Add the water and mix to form a thick batter. Press this through a meat mincing machine on a small setting and transfer the 'worms' to a pan of hot oil to fry until golden. Transfer the bhoondis, or worm shaped fried larwa bits, to the hot syrup and steep them until all the syrup is absorbed. Cool and set aside for a couple of hours, then mould the resulting dough into balls about the size of golf balls. Roll these balls in the slivered almonds.

Burfee - Indian Fudge

As you will find, if you attempt this delicacy, I've left the best till last. Burfee is the closest to fudge you can get in Indian sweets. It's creamy and almost sickeningly sweet, but is a firm favourite with those who enjoy sweetmeats. Although it is quite a difficult thing to make, I believe all good things are worth taking the trouble over!

Ingredients:
For the Mawa:
3 litres milk
For the Burfee:
500g mawa
40ml double cream
30ml ground almonds
250g full-fat milk powder
500ml water
360g sugar
2.5ml fine ground cardamom powder
15ml rose water
icing sugar for dusting
Method:
To make the Mawa:
Using 500ml at a time, boil the milk rapidly over high heat, stirring all the time to make sure it does not catch on the bottom of the pan, until a hard lump remains. Remove this hard lump and set aside. Continue with the rest of the milk until you have 500g of mawa.
To make the Burfee:
The mawa will be hard and lumpy so cut it up into pieces and put it into a mixing bowl. Add the cream, almonds and milk powder and blend well. Leave aside for a few hours to dry. Put in a fodd processor and blitz, then set aside again for an hour or two.
In a saucepan, make a syrup with the water and sugar, stirring till all the grains of sugar are disolved in the water. Bring the syrup to the boil, then lower the heat and continue to simmer until the syrup is reduced by about a third in volume and is thickened, but not sticky. Add cardamom and rose water.
Add the cream and milk mixture to the syrup over low heat and stir till the syrup is absorbed into the cream and milk mixture. Remove from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Leave for a couple of hours before patting it into ice cube size blocks. Dust with icing sugar and leave to dry.