Indian desserts recipes
90 Indian desserts recipes, each written for this site and each saying what its method turns on.
- Ada, sourced from India. A rice-flour parcel steamed inside a banana leaf, which is the mould. vegan.
- Ada pradhaman, sourced from India. Rice flakes in a sauce of coconut milk cooked with jaggery. vegetarian.
- Adhirasam, sourced from India. The dough ferments for three to five days in the sun before anything is fried. vegetarian.
- Anarsa, sourced from India. It is rolled in white poppy seeds and fried poppy-side down first. vegetarian.
- Ashoka Halwa, sourced from India. A Thanjavur halwa in which moong dal stands in for the wheat that was scarce. vegetarian.
- Bal mithai, sourced from India. Roasted khoya cut into fudge and rolled in sugar-coated poppy seeds. vegetarian.
- Barfi, sourced from India. Khoa and sugar cooked to a fudge and cut cold, with nothing set in syrup. vegetarian.
- Basundi, sourced from India. It is stirred constantly so that no skin forms at all, which is the opposite of what rabri wants. vegetarian.
- Bebinca, sourced from India. Between seven and sixteen layers, each one baked before the next is poured on. Egg, vegetarian.
- Boondi, sourced from India. Batter dropped through a slotted spoon, so it fries as separate pearls. vegan.
- Chandrakanti, sourced from India. The flour is split green gram as well as rice, and the shape is a choice the source does not make. vegetarian.
- Chhena Gaja, sourced from India. The water is squeezed out and the dough dried before it is cut into rectangles and boiled in a thick syrup. vegetarian.
- Chhena Jalebi, sourced from India. The curds are rolled into pretzel shapes and deep-fried, not piped as a batter. vegetarian.
- Chhena Jhili, sourced from India. Wheat flour is worked into the curds before they are fried, which is what makes it hold its shape. vegetarian.
- Chhena Kheeri, sourced from India. The fried cubes go into the milk and the milk is then boiled down around them to a rabri. vegetarian.
- Chhena Poda, sourced from India. It is baked for hours and its flavour comes from the sugar caramelising, with no syrup anywhere in it. vegetarian.
- Chhenabara, sourced from India. It is fried to a burnt brown crust over a centre that stays soft. vegetarian.
- Chikki, sourced from India. A jaggery syrup made with as little water as possible, rolled to six or eight millimetres. vegetarian.
- Churma, sourced from India. Baked bread crushed back into ghee and sugar. vegetarian.
- Dal badam chakki, sourced from India. Dal flour and ground almond set as a fudge and cut in slices, which is what chakki means. vegetarian.
- Doodhpak, sourced from India. The milk is slow-boiled down before serving and it is eaten with puris rather than on its own. vegetarian.
- Double Ka Meetha, sourced from India. It is leavened double roti, and it soaks in sugar syrup rather than milk. vegetarian.
- Enduri Pitha, sourced from India. It is wrapped in a turmeric leaf and steamed, and the leaf is the flavour. vegetarian.
- Falooda, sourced from India. Nothing in it is cooked at the point of serving: it is layered cold in a glass. vegetarian.
- Gajar Ka Halwa, sourced from India. The carrots are grated and cooked down in milk, and the nuts are fried in ghee before they go on. vegetarian.
- Gavvalu, sourced from India. Dough rolled on a ridged tool so each piece curls into a cowrie shell. vegetarian.
- Ghari, sourced from India. A puri dough closed round a mawa filling and coated in ghee. vegetarian.
- Ghevar, sourced from India. The batter is poured into hot ghee and sets as a honeycomb disc. vegetarian.
- Gulab Jamun, sourced from India. The dough is milk solids, and it fries at a low temperature. vegetarian.
- Imarti, sourced from India. The batter is black gram with saffron in it, piped as a flower with a ring in the middle. vegetarian.
- Jalebi, sourced from India. A plain-flour batter piped in a spiral, and it is eaten with curd or rabri. vegetarian.
- Jolbhora sandesh, sourced from India. A chhena sweet with a liquid centre of date palm jaggery, which is what the name means. vegetarian.
- Kaju katli, sourced from India. A single-thread syrup poured onto ground cashews and cut into rhombuses. vegetarian.
- Kakara Pitha, sourced from India. Wheat flour rather than rice, and a pinch of edible camphor in the filling. vegetarian.
- Kakinada Kaja, sourced from India. One form is a hollow cylinder holding the syrup inside it, the other a layered diamond holding it between the sheets. vegetarian.
- Kalakand, sourced from India. Two dairy preparations in one sweet: chhena kneaded soft and stirred into milk already reduced by half. vegetarian.
- Kansar, sourced from India. Coarse wheat flour and tepid water, with no milk and no fruit, and the sugar goes on at the table. vegetarian.
- Kesari Bat, sourced from India. Saffron is in the name and it is what colours it. vegetarian.
- Khaja, sourced from India. The dough is layered like pastry before it is fried, and the syrup is called paga. vegetarian.
- Kheer, sourced from India. The rice goes in whole and the grains stay visible in the finished pudding. vegetarian.
- Khira Sagara, sourced from India. The chhena marbles are not fried at all: they go into the thickened milk raw. vegetarian.
- Kozhukkatta, sourced from India. A steamed rice-flour shell round coconut cooked in jaggery syrup. vegetarian.
- Kulfi, sourced from India. It is never churned, and the slow cooking browns the milk before it is frozen. vegetarian.
- Laapsi, sourced from India. Broken wheat rather than flour, cooked in milk with dried fruit in it. vegetarian.
- Laddu, sourced from India. Something already cooked bound into a ball with syrup, and the name means small ball. vegetarian.
- Laung lata, sourced from India. The fold is pinned shut with a clove, which is what the name is. vegetarian.
- Lyangcha, sourced from India. Fried hard, boiled in hot syrup, then left for hours in cold scented syrup until it goes soft. vegetarian.
- Makhan Bada, sourced from India. A maida dough deep-fried in ghee and then dipped in sugar syrup. vegetarian.
- Malpua, sourced from India. The batter stands for hours and is spooned into the fat as a pancake with crisp edges. vegetarian.
- Manda Pitha, sourced from India. A steamed rice-flour shell around a coconut filling, and a fried semolina one in the west. vegetarian.
- Mihidana, sourced from India. The batter goes through a perforated ladle so it fries as separate grains. vegetarian.
- Mishti Doi, sourced from India. It ferments overnight in earthenware, whose porous walls both thicken it and hold the temperature. vegetarian.
- Modak, sourced from India. Two versions, one fried and one steamed, and the shell can take khoya. vegetarian.
- Mohanthal, sourced from India. A besan sweet into which a sugar syrup is poured, which is what separates it from magas. vegetarian.
- Mysore pak, sourced from India. Steam escaping through the greased flour is what makes it porous. vegetarian.
- Nabadwip-er Lal Doi, sourced from India. The milk is boiled over wood until it turns red, three litres down to one, before it is set at all. vegetarian.
- Nankhatai, sourced from India. A shortbread of three flours: refined, chickpea and semolina. vegetarian.
- Neyyappam, sourced from India. Fried in ghee, which is exactly what its name says. vegetarian.
- Osmania biscuit, sourced from India. Salty as well as sweet, which is what the Nizam asked for. Egg, vegetarian.
- Palathalikalu, sourced from India. The strands are cooked in milk rather than water, which is what pala means. vegetarian.
- Panjiri, sourced from India. It stays dry and loose, and the spices are cumin, coriander, dry ginger and fennel rather than cardamom. vegetarian.
- Pantua, sourced from India. The colour is decided by how long it fries, from pale brown to nearly black. vegetarian.
- Patoleo, sourced from India. A rice paste and a coconut filling steamed inside a turmeric leaf, and the leaf is not eaten. vegan.
- Peda, sourced from India. Khoa cooked on until it browns, then pressed into thick semi-soft balls. vegetarian.
- Petha, sourced from India. Ash gourd cured in lime water before it is boiled, which is what makes it crunchy. vegan.
- Pheni, sourced from India. Finer strands than seviyan, and sutar means thread. vegetarian.
- Phirni, sourced from India. The rice is ground to a powder first, so it sets smooth with no grains in it at all. vegetarian.
- Pinni, sourced from India. It is rolled into a ball and keeps for weeks without refrigeration. vegetarian.
- Podo Pitha, sourced from India. It bakes overnight and the crust is meant to come out burnt. vegetarian.
- Poornalu, sourced from India. A fried dumpling whose filling has its own name, poornam. vegan.
- Pootharekulu, sourced from India. A sheet of rice starch thin as paper, folded round sugar and ghee. vegetarian.
- Rabri, sourced from India. The skin of cream is lifted off as it forms and set aside, again and again, until the milk is used up. vegetarian.
- Ras Malai, sourced from India. The discs are cooked in syrup and then lifted out of it into milk, which is what they are served in. vegetarian.
- Rasabali, sourced from India. The patties are flattened so they can absorb the thickened milk more readily. vegetarian.
- Rasgulla, sourced from India. The balls are simmered in a light syrup until it has permeated them, and are never fried. vegetarian.
- Sandesh, sourced from India. The curds are tossed with sugar over a low heat and never boiled or fried. vegetarian.
- Sarbhaja, sourced from India. The skins of milk stacked and then fried, which is what the name says. vegetarian.
- Sarpuria, sourced from India. The same milk skins layered rather than fried, with chhena and cream between them. vegetarian.
- Shahi Tukra, sourced from India. White bread is fried and then milk and sugar are added to it. vegetarian.
- Sheer Khurma, sourced from India. The vermicelli is fried in ghee before any milk goes near it. vegetarian.
- Shrikhand, sourced from India. The yoghurt is hung in cloth for hours and nothing is cooked at any point. vegetarian.
- Singori, sourced from India. A cone of sweetened khoya wrapped in a maalu leaf, which gives it its shape and its scent. vegetarian.
- Sitabhog, sourced from India. Pressed into threads that look like rice, with small jamun through it. vegetarian.
- Soan papdi, sourced from India. A pulled sugar dough whose name means golden flaky layer. vegetarian.
- Sohan halwa, sourced from India. A halwa set with cornflour, boiled until solid, and brittle rather than fudgy. vegetarian.
- Suji Ka Halwa, sourced from India. The semolina is toasted in fat before any liquid, and the sweetener can be syrup, honey or jaggery. vegetarian.
- Sukhdi, sourced from India. The jaggery goes in equal to the flour and only once the pan is off the heat, then it sets and is cut. vegetarian.
- Tilkut, sourced from India. Sesame pounded into the sugar rather than stirred into a syrup. vegan.
- Unni appam, sourced from India. Mashed ripe banana in the batter, cooked in the moulds of an unniyappakaara. vegetarian.
- Zarda, sourced from India. It is boiled sweet rice, and the yellow is colouring as much as saffron.
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