Home Regions Asia India

India

India, in South Asia, is a vast tapestry of 1.4 billion people, from Himalayan peaks to tropical coasts, with New Delhi as its chaotic, historic capital. Birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Bollywood, it’s a cultural colossus, blending ancient temples like Varanasi’s with tech hubs like Bengaluru. Its economy—soaring in IT, agriculture, and pharma—grapples with inequality and diversity across 22 official languages. India’s vibrancy, contradictions, and resilience defy easy summary.

India

Featured Dishes from India

Akuri

Akuri

Akuri is a spicy scrambled egg dish eaten in Parsi cuisine of India. Akuri is cooked until almost runny; the eggs are never overcooked. The main flavouring is fried onions and the spices used are ginger, coriander, chopped chilis, and black pepper. Akuri is traditionally eaten with pav or double roti . A less common version of akuri is bharuchi akuri, which contains nuts and dry fruits like cashews, almonds and raisins in addition to the other spices. This dish supposedly originated from the city of Bharuch in Gujarat, hence the name.

Aloo paratha

Aloo paratha

Aloo paratha is a paratha (flat bread dish) stuffed with potato filling native to the Indian subcontinent. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast. It is made using unleavened dough rolled with a mixture of mashed potato and spices (amchur, garam masala) which is cooked on a hot tawa with butter or ghee. Aloo paratha is usually served with butter, chutney, curd, or Indian pickles.

Aloo poha

Aloo poha

Flattened rice mixed with potatoes, chili peppers, spices

Aloo puri

Aloo puri

Potato curry with fried puffed flatbread, also refers to savory flatbread made with potatoes

Aloo sabzi

Aloo sabzi

Potato curry, may be soup-like or stir fried potatoes with spices

Alphonso mango

Alphonso mango

The Alphonso mango is a named mango cultivar that originated in India. The variety is named after Afonso de Albuquerque, a distinguished militarian and viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515. Jesuit missionaries introduced grafting on mango trees in Portuguese Goa, to produce varieties like Alphonso. In 1563, Garcia da Orta wrote of Alphonsos grown in Portuguese Bombay, which were to be presented to the governor in Goa. Alphonso is also one of the most expensive varieties of mango, and is grown mainly in the Konkan region of western India. and also grown in the Valsad and Navsari districts of South Gujarat. The Alphonso mango is a seasonal fruit harvested from mid-April through the end of June. The time from flowering to harvest is about 90 days, while the time from harvest to ripening is about 15 days. The fruits generally weigh between 150 and 300 grams (5.3 and 10.6 oz), have a rich, creamy, tender texture and delicate, non-fibrous, juicy pulp. As the fruit matures, the skin of an Alphonso mango turns golden-yellow with a tinge of red across the top of the fruit.

Appam

Appam

An appam or hoppers is a type of thin pancake originating from South India and Sri Lanka. It is made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk, traditionally cooked in an appachatti, a deep pan similar in shape to a wok. It is part of Tamil cuisine and Kerala cuisine found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and in Sri Lanka. Appam is most frequently served for breakfast or dinner, often with a topping such as an egg. Appam may derive from the Sanskrit word (अपूप apupa), which refers to a type of "fried dainty."

Besan chilla

Besan chilla

Savory bread or pancake using chickpea flour, herbs, vegetables, chili peppers, curd, spices

Bread pakora

Bread pakora

Bread pakora is an Indian fried snack . It is also known as bread bhaji (or bajji). A common street food, it is made from bread slices, gram flour, and spices among other ingredients. The snack is prepared by dipping triangular bread slices in a spicy gram flour batter and frying them. Stuffing such as mashed potatoes is common. It can be deep-fried or pan-fried, and is served with chutneys or ketchup.

Cheela

Cheela

A pancake, also known as a hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack, is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter, and then cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan. It is a type of batter bread. Archaeological evidence suggests that pancakes were probably eaten in prehistoric societies. The pancake's shape and structure varies worldwide. In England, pancakes are often unleavened and resemble a crêpe. In Scotland and North America, a leavening agent is used creating a thick fluffy pancake. A crêpe is a thin pancake of Breton origin cooked on one or both sides in a special pan or crepe maker to achieve a lacelike network of fine bubbles. A well-known variation originating from southeast Europe is palatschinke, a thin moist pancake fried on both sides and filled with jam, cream cheese, chocolate, or ground walnuts, but many other fillings—sweet or savoury—can also be used.

Chole bhature

Chole bhature

Chole bhature Hindi pronunciation: [t͡ʃʰoː.leː bʱə.ʈuː.ɾeː] is a food dish popular in the northern areas of the Indian subcontinent. It is a combination of chana masala and bhatura/puri, a deep-fried bread made from maida. Chole bhature is often eaten as a breakfast dish, sometimes accompanied with lassi. It can also be street food or a complete meal and may be accompanied with onions, pickled carrots, green chutney or achaar.

Coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially available. There are also various coffee substitutes. Typically served hot, coffee has the highest sales in the world market for hot drinks. Coffee production begins when the seeds from coffee cherries are separated to produce unroasted green coffee beans. The "beans" are roasted and then ground into fine particles. Coffee is brewed from the ground roasted beans, which are typically steeped in hot water before being filtered out. It is usually served hot, although chilled or iced coffee is common. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways (e.g., espresso, French press, caffè latte, or already-brewed canned coffee). Sugar, sugar substitutes, milk, and cream are often added to mask the bitter taste or enhance the flavor.

Dhokla

Dhokla

Dhokla is a savoury sponge dish that is native to the Indian state of Gujarat and parts of adjacent states, and is popular throughout the country. It is made with a fermented batter that is steamed to a cake-like consistency. The batter consists of a mixture of rice with the pulse Bengal gram, but has several variants with the gram replaced by chickpeas, pigeon peas, or urad beans. Dukkia, a pulse-based precursor of dhokla, is mentioned in a Jain text dated to 1066 CE. The earliest extant work to mention the word "dhokla" is the Gujarati Varanaka Samuchaya . Dried rice and split chickpeas (chana dal) are soaked overnight. The mixture is ground, and the paste is fermented for at least four hours. Spices are added, such as chili pepper, coriander, and ginger.

Doi

Doi

Yogurt is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to give yogurt its texture and characteristic tart flavor. Cow's milk is most commonly used to make yogurt. Milk from water buffalo, goats, ewes, mares, camels, and yaks is also used to produce yogurt. The milk used may be homogenized or not. It may be pasteurized or raw. Each type of milk produces substantially different results. Yogurt is produced using a culture of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus bacteria. Other lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are sometimes added during or after culturing yogurt. Some countries require yogurt to contain a specific amount of colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria; for example, in China the requirement for the number of lactobacillus bacteria is at least 1 million CFU per milliliter. Some countries also regulate which bacteria can be used: for example, in France, a product can only be labeled as "yaourt" or "yoghourt" if it has been fermented exclusively by Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, a requirement that aligns with the international definition of yogurt in the Codex Alimentarius on fermented milk (CXS 243-2003.

Dosa

Dosa

Dosa may refer to:

Fafda

Fafda

Fafda is a popular Indian snack native to the western state of Gujarat. Often eaten during festivals, fafda is rectangle in shape and yellowish in color. Fafda is a type of papad and is part of a category of snack food called farsan. Fafda became famous because of a festival named Dusherra. Traditionally, fafda and jalebi are the most sought-after sweet and salty combination in Gujarati cuisine. The two snacks are popular as breakfast items among Gujarati people. To create fafda, gram flour, oil, carom seeds (ajwain), papad khar and salt are mixed in a bowl. A dough is made from the mixture using enough water. Small balls of the dough are rolled into a cylindrical shape, and after flattening, deep-fried till they turn crispy. On festival days, the shops that make fafda can have lines that start at 4 am. It is served with a chutney and salty fried-green chilis. Fafda is also accompanied with spicy shredded vegetables colloquially called "sambharo". The vegetables in the sambharo can be carrots or shredded spicy papaya.

Fara

Fara

Rice, lentil or wheat flour dumplings, can be savory or sweet, stuffed, used in curries, served with ghee, chutney

Halwa poori

Halwa poori

Deep-fried flatbread served with sweet halwa confections

Idiyappam

Idiyappam

Idiyappam, also known as indiappa, noolappam, santhagai, or ottu shavige, is a string hopper dish originating from southern India. It consists of rice flour pressed into noodles, laid into a flat disc-like shape and steamed. The dish also spread to Southeast Asia, where it is called putu mayam in Malaysia and Singapore, and putu mayang in Indonesia. According to food historian K. T. Achaya, idiyappam, appam, idli, dosa and vada were known during ancient Tamil country the 1st century AD, as per references in the Sangam literature. Lokopakara cookbook in Kannada language also mentions a method of making shavige and the mold-presser used for it.

Idli

Idli

Idli or idly or iddali or iddena is a type of savoury rice cake, originating from South India, popular as a breakfast food in Southern India and in Sri Lanka. The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented de-husked black lentils and rice. The fermentation process breaks down the starches so that they are more readily metabolised by the body. Idli has several variations, including rava idli, which is made from semolina. Regional variants include sanna of Konkan.

Masala dosa

Masala dosa

Masala dosa is a dish of South India originating in the town of Udupi, Karnataka. While there is variation in the recipe from town to town, the basic recipe typically starts with a fermented batter of parboiled rice, poha, and various legumes (black gram, pigeon peas, chickpeas), and incorporates various spices for flavour, such as fenugreek and dry red chilli. Traditionally served with potato curry, chutneys, and sambar, it is a common breakfast item in South India, though it can also be found in many other parts of the country and overseas. One common variant is the paper masala dosa, which is made with a thinner batter, resulting in a crisper, almost paper-thin final product. The dosa is made by soaking rice and lentils overnight in water and then grinding them into a batter. The batter is fermented overnight. To make the dosa the batter is spread on a hot tava using a ladle or a bowl. It is pan-roasted until crispy and served with potato curry, chutneys or sambar.

Medu vada

Medu vada

Medu vada is a South Indian breakfast snack made from Vigna mungo (black lentil). It is usually made in a doughnut shape, with a crispy exterior and soft interior. A popular food item in South Indian cuisine it is generally eaten as a breakfast or a snack. "Medu" (ಮೆದು) means "soft" in Kannada, thus "medu vada" means "soft vada". The dish is often mentioned simply as "vada" on menus. Other names for the dish include uddina vade Kannada, urad vada, medhu vadai, ulundu vadai (Tamil), garelu(గారెలు) (Telugu), uzhunnu vada (Malayalam), batuk (Nepali), and ulundu vadai (Sinhala). According to Vir Sanghvi, the origin of medu vada can be traced with "some certainty" to the Maddur town in present-day Karnataka. The dish was made popular outside South India by Udupi restaurateurs of Mumbai.

Milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest solid food. Milk contains many nutrients, including calcium and protein, as well as lactose and saturated fat. Immune factors and immune-modulating components in milk contribute to milk immunity. Early-lactation milk, which is called colostrum, contains antibodies and immune-modulating components that strengthen the immune system against many diseases. The US CDC agency recommends that children over the age of 12 months (the minimum age to stop giving breast milk or formula) should have two servings of dairy (milk) products a day, and more than six billion people worldwide consume milk and milk products. As an agricultural product, dairy milk is collected from farm animals, mostly cattle. In 2011, dairy farms produced around 730 million tonnes (800 million short tons) of milk from 260 million dairy cows. India is the world's largest producer of milk and the leading exporter of skimmed milk powder. New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands are the largest exporters of milk products. Between 750 and 900 million people live in dairy-farming households.

Missi roti

Missi roti

Spiced gram flour flatbread, serve with butter, curry, pickles

Muesli

Muesli

Muesli is a cold Swiss breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats. Traditionally, it is set to soak in water overnight ("overnight oats") and eaten the next morning with fresh fruit, nuts, lemon juice, and cream sweetened with honey. Additional ingredients, such as other grains, seeds, and dried fruits are sometimes added, and other citrus juice may be used. Yogurt, milk or other milk products, or milk substitutes are now commonly added to both homemade and commercially packaged muesli recipes. Developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital, it has become a common breakfast cereal dish. In Switzerland, it is also consumed for supper as Birchermüesli complet – muesli with Café complet (milk coffee, accompanied by Butterbrot (bread, butter and jam)). In addition to being prepared raw, muesli can be toasted. Muesli can also be processed further by adding sweetener and oil to bind the ingredients together and baked to produce granola.

Panki

Panki

Pancake-like snack cooked in banana leaves, made with rice flour, corn flour, moong dal flour, chili peppers, ginger, spices, serve with chutney

Paratha

Paratha

Paratha is a flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent, with earliest reference mentioned in early medieval Sanskrit, India; prevalent throughout the modern-day countries of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago where wheat is the traditional staple. It is one of the most popular flatbreads in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta, which literally means layers of cooked dough. Alternative spellings and names include parantha, parauntha, prontha, parontay, paronthi (Punjabi), porota (in Bengali), paratha (in Odia, Urdu, Hindi), palata ( pronounced [pəlàtà]; in Myanmar), porotha (in Assamese), forota (in Chittagonian and Sylheti), faravatha (in Bhojpuri), farata (in Mauritius and the Maldives), prata (in Southeast Asia), paratha, buss-up shut, oil roti (in the Anglophone Caribbean) and roti canai in Malaysia and Indonesia. The word paratha is derived from Sanskrit (S. पर, or परा+स्थः, or स्थितः). Recipes for various stuffed wheat puran polis (which Achaya (2003) describes as parathas) are mentioned in Manasollasa, a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopedia compiled by Someshvara III, a Western Chalukya king, who ruled from present-day Karnataka, India. References to paratha have also been mentioned by Nijjar (1968), in his book Panjāb under the Sultāns, 1000–1526 AD when he writes that parathas were common with the nobility and aristocracy in the Punjab.

Poha

Poha

Flattened rice is a preparation of rice made from raw, toasted, or parboiled rice grains pounded into flat flakes. It is traditional to many rice-cultivating cultures in Southeast Asia and South Asia. It is also known as rice flakes, beaten rice, pounded rice, pressed rice or chipped rice. It is toasted, fried, or used as ingredients or toppings for other dishes. Depending on their use, they can be crispy, crunchy, chewy, or soft in texture with a light nutty flavor. Much like oatmeal, the term "flattened rice" and its equivalents in other languages may refer to the ingredient itself or a dish based on the ingredient.

Pongal

Pongal

Pongal is a South Indian and Sri Lankan dish of rice cooked in boiling milk. Its preparation is the main custom associated with the Pongal festival. It is also eaten as a breakfast food. A part of Tamil cuisine, varieties include venn (hot) pongal, sakkarai (sweet) pongal, kozhi (chicken) pongal, and sanyasi pongal. It has been described as "very dear to (the) Tamil people." Pongal is associated with the Pongal festival, whose name means "to boil over" or "overflow." The festival thanks the Sun deity for the sunlight that makes the rice harvest possible. Therefore, the tradition calls for offering the fresh harvest of rice cooked in boiling milk to the deity. While the pongal is cooking, onlookers sometimes shout with joy, "Pongalo pongal!" ('Let the pongal rise up!').

Puri

Puri

Puri, also poori, is a type of deep-fried bread, made from unleavened whole-wheat flour, originated from the Indian subcontinent. Puris are most commonly served as breakfast or snacks. It is also served at special or ceremonial functions as part of ceremonial rituals along with other vegetarian food offered in Hindu prayer as prasadam. When hosting guests it is common in some households to serve puri in place of roti, as a small gesture of formality. Puri is often eaten in place of roti on special holidays.

Rava idli

Rava idli

Steamed dumplings or cakes made with semolina, curd and spices

Red coconut chutney

Red coconut chutney

Spicy chutney made with red chili peppers, coconut, coconut oil, onions, garlic, ginger, gram dal, spices, serve with vada, idlis, dosai, uttapams, pakora, common at breakfast and with snacks

Sabudana khichdi

Sabudana khichdi

Sago (tapioca) pearls with dal, potatoes, mustard, chili peppers, peanuts, spices

Sevai

Sevai

Sevai , also called shavige (Kannada: ಶಾವಿಗೆ), saemia (Telugu: సేమియా) and santhakai (Tamil: சந்தகை), is a type of rice vermicelli dish popular in India. While typically made from rice, varieties made from other food grains like wheat, ragi, and others can also be found. According to food historian K. T. Achaya, references in the Sangam literature mentions sevai and idiyappam around 1st century CE. Lokopakara (1025 CE) a cookbook in Kannada also mentions method of making sevai and a mold-presser used for it.

Sheer khurma

Sheer khurma

Sheer khurma or sheer khorma is a festival vermicelli pudding prepared by Muslims on Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia. It is equivalent to shemai, a Bangladeshi dessert. It is a traditional Muslim festive breakfast,[a] and a dessert for celebrations. This dish is made from various dry fruits, vermicelli, condensed milk, sugar, etc. Depending on the region, cardamom, pistachios, almonds, cloves, saffron, raisins, and rose water are also added. This special dish is served on the morning of Eid day in the family after the Eid prayer as breakfast, and throughout the day to all the visiting guests. In its original form, it consists of dates mixed with milk from Iran and dry fruits and nuts from Afghanistan which is where it originated. It is modified in India by the addition of fried semia and caramelised sugar.

Sweet pongal

Sweet pongal

Sweetened rice dish, made with rice, jaggery, dal, ghee, nuts, raisins

Tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and northern Myanmar. Tea is also made, but rarely, from the leaves of Camellia taliensis. After plain water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes. Tea has a stimulating effect in humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the third century AD, in a medical text written by Chinese physician Hua Tuo. It was popularised as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking subsequently spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among the English, who started to plant tea on a large scale in British India.

Upma

Upma

Vada

Vada

Vada, vadai, wada, bara, or bora is a category of savoury fried snacks native to India. Vadas can be described variously as fritters, cutlets, or dumplings. Vadas are sometimes stuffed with vegetables and traditionally served with chutneys and sambar. In North India and Pakistan, Bhalla is a similar food. It is sold in chaat shops and kiosks; Green bean paste is added with spices, which is then deep fried to make croquets. They are then garnished with dahi , Saunth chutney (dried ginger and tamarind sauce) and spices. Bhalla is usually served cold, unlike the Aloo Tikki.

Aamras

Aamras

Aamras is a sweet dish in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent made from the pulp of the mango fruit. The pulp of a ripe mango is extracted, usually by hand, and is eaten together with pooris or chapatis, Indian breads. Sometimes ghee and milk are added to the pulp to enhance its flavour. Sugar may be added for sweetness. It is often eaten at celebrations and weddings with cardamon and chopped fruits. A regional version of aamras is a popular dessert in Marathi and Rajasthani cuisines as well as Marwari and Gujarati homes, especially during festivities. Originally a traditional dish from Maharashtra, it is very popular in other parts of India.

Akhrot ka halwa

Akhrot ka halwa

A confection made with walnuts, sugar, milk, ghee, saffron, cardamom

Anarsa

Anarsa

Anarsa or Hilsa is a rice-based biscuit in Nepal and the Indian states of Bihar and Maharastra. It is commonly associated with the Hindu festival of Diwali in Nepal, Maharashtra and Bihar, along with other special occasions. Its ingredients include jaggery (unrefined cane sugar), rice, poppy seed and ghee (clarified butter). Anarasha, which means "without corruption" or "eternal" in Sanskrit, is the root of the name "Anarsa". The word Anarasha also denotes cleanness, timelessness, and absence of decay.

Balushahi

Balushahi

Makhan Bada is a traditional dessert originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is also known as Balusaahi and is similar to a glazed doughnut in terms of Ingredients, but differs in texture and taste. Makhan Bada also resembles Rajasthani Baati in terms of size and preparation but its shape is more similar to Medu Vada. In South India, a similar pastry is known as badusha. Makhan Badas are made of maida flour and are deep-fried in clarified butter and then dipped in sugar syrup.

Banana roti

Banana roti

Flatbread made with bananas

Barfi

Barfi

Barfi[a] or burfi is a milk-based sweet from the Indian subcontinent with a fudge-like consistency. Its name comes from the Persian and Urdu word for snow. Barfi is consumed throughout India and Pakistan and is especially popular in North India. It is often served at celebrations and religious festivals such as Diwali and Holi. Barfi originated in Persia and was introduced to India by the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. Through indentured workers it was brought to Trinidad in the mid-19th century and became popular there.

Basundi

Basundi

Basundi is an Indian sweet mostly in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It is a sweetened condensed milk made by boiling milk on low heat until the milk is reduced by half. In North India, a similar dish goes by the name rabri. It is often made on Hindu festivals such as Kali Chaudas and Bhaubeej (Bhai Dooj).

Berliner

Berliner

A Berliner or Krapfen is a German jam doughnut with no central hole, made from sweet yeast dough fried in lard or cooking oil, with a jam filling, and usually covered in powdered sugar. Sugar was very costly until the 16th century, and early doughnuts were usually stuffed with savory fillings like cheese, meat and mushroom. When imports from Caribbean sugar plantations made sugar more affordable, fruit preserves gained in popularity. In 1485, the first German-language cookbook to be published in printed form Kuechenmeisterei was published in Nuremberg and remained in print at least until 1674 with 20 editions . It was one of the first cookbooks printed using the Gutenberg press and contains the first known recipe for a jelly doughnut, called Gefüllte Krapfen made with jam-filled yeasted bread dough deep-fried in lard. It's unknown whether this innovation was the author's own or simply a record of an existing practice. The yeast dough contains a good deal of eggs, milk and butter. For the classical Pfannkuchen made in Berlin the dough is rolled into a ball, deep-fried in lard, whereby the distinctive bright bulge occurs, and then filled with jam. The filling is related to the topping:[citation needed] for plum-butter, powdered sugar; for raspberry, strawberry and cherry jam, sugar; for all other fillings, sugar icing, sometimes flavoured with rum. Today the filling usually is injected with a large syringe or pastry bag after the dough is fried in one piece.

Besan barfi

Besan barfi

Besan Chakki or Besan Katli (Hindi: बेस्ट कतली) or Besan Khandli (Hindi: बेसन खण्डली) is a common chakki sweet from the Indian subcontinent. It is made with besan (gram flour), condensed milk, and sugar. Besan chakki is compound of two words: besan and chakki. Besan refers to gram flour and is derived from Sanskrit word Vesana. The word Chakki is derived from Sanskrit word Chakrikā.

Besan ladoo

Besan ladoo

Sweet spiced balls made with chickpea flour

Boondi

Boondi

Boondi is an Indian snack made from fried chickpea flour. It is either eaten as a savory snack or sweetened as a dessert. In Sindh and Rajasthan, the dish is called nukti . In Nepali & Bhojpuri Region, it is referred to as buniya (बुनिया). In Bihar & Bengal, it is called bundiya (बुंदिया/বুন্দিয়া).

Boondi laddu

Boondi laddu

Fried balls of sweetened gram flour

Bourbon biscuit

Bourbon biscuit

The Bourbon is a sandwich biscuit consisting of two thin rectangular dark chocolate-flavoured biscuits with a chocolate buttercream filling. The biscuit was introduced in 1910 (originally under the name "Creola") by the biscuit company Peek Freans, of Bermondsey, London, originator of the Garibaldi biscuit. The Bourbon name, dating from the 1930s, comes from the former French and Spanish royal House of Bourbon. A 2009 survey found that the Bourbon biscuit was the fifth most popular biscuit in the United Kingdom for dunking in tea. The small holes in bourbon biscuits are to prevent the biscuits from cracking or breaking during the baking process, by allowing steam to escape. Many other companies make their own version of the biscuit under the "Bourbon" name, including major supermarkets.

Chikki

Chikki

Chikki is a traditional Indian sweet generally made from nuts and jaggery/sugar. There are several different varieties of chikki in addition to the most common groundnut (peanut) chikki. Each variety of chikki is named after the ingredients used, which include puffed or roasted Bengal gram, sesame, puffed rice, beaten rice, or khobra (desiccated coconut), and other nuts such as almonds, cashews and pistachios. In Sindh province of Pakistan, it is called layee or lai. In north Indian states, it is also known as gajak or maroonda. In Bangladesh, West Bengal and other Bengali-speaking regions, it is known as gur badam.In Maharashtra it is called as Chikki. In the South Indian states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, it is called palli patti (పల్లీ పట్టీ). In Kerala it is called Kadala mittai. In Tamil Nadu it is called kadalai mittai. In Karnataka it's called Kadale Mittai. Similar dishes are also very popular in Brazil, where it is known as pé-de-moleque, in Paraguay, where it is called ka'i ladrillo, and in Thailand, where it is called thua tat.[citation needed]

Chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring in other foods. The cacao tree has been used as a source of food for at least 5,300 years, starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador. Later, Mesoamerican civilizations consumed cacao beverages, of which one, chocolate, was introduced to Europe in the 16th century.

Chocolate cake

Chocolate cake

Chocolate cake or chocolate gâteau is a cake flavored with melted chocolate, cocoa powder, or both. It can also have other ingredients such as fudge, vanilla creme, and other sweeteners. The history of chocolate cake goes back to the 17th century, when cocoa powder from the Americas was added to traditional cake recipes.

Chomchom

Chomchom

Cham cham, Chomchom or chum chum is a traditional Bengali sweet, popular throughout the Indian subcontinent. The sweet comes in a variety of colours, mainly light pink, light yellow, and white. It is made from chickpeas and coated with coconut or mawa flakes as a garnish. Chomchom originated from Tangail District. Chamcham, an oval-shaped brownish variety of chomchom from Porabari in Tangail District of modern-day Bangladesh, dates back to the mid-19th century. The unique taste has been attributed to the water in Porabari. Jagadish Mishtanno Bhandar in Khustia District makes a version known as Maowar Chomchom.

Churma

Churma

Churma is a popular Rajasthani, Bihari, Uttar Pradeshi, Haryanvi, and Awadhi delicacy from India. In Punjab, the dish is called churi. It is coarsely ground wheat, crushed and cooked with ghee and sugar. In Haryana, churma is made by mashing up roti in ghee and jaggery. It is not served with ghee, especially as a diet for the wrestlers sparring in the dangal of akharas. It is usually served either with a tall glass of warm milk, lassi, or with sour kadhi.

Coconut ladoo

Coconut ladoo

Laddu or laddoo is a spherical sweet from the Indian subcontinent made of various ingredients and sugar syrup or jaggery. It has been described as "perhaps the most universal and ancient of Indian sweets." Laddus are often served during celebrations and religious festivals, especially those associated with the Hindu deity Ganesha.

Dahi vada

Dahi vada

Dahi vada or Dahi Bada is a type of chaat originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is prepared by soaking vadas (fried lentil balls) in thick dahi (curd). Dahi vada is also known as "dahi vade" (दही वडे) in Marathi, dahi barey/dahi balley (دہی بھلے/دہی بڑے) in Urdu, dahi bada/dahi vada (बड़ा बड़ा/दही वड़ा) in Hindi, dahi bhalla (دہی بھلا/ਦਹੀ ਭੱਲਾ) in Punjabi, thayir vadai(தயிர் வடை) in Tamil, thairu vada(തൈര് വട) in Malayalam, perugu vada in Telugu, mosaru vade(ಮೊಸರು ವಡೆ) in Kannada, dahi bara (ଦହି ବରା) in Odia and doi bora (দই বড়া) in Bengali.

Double ka meetha

Double ka meetha

Double ka meetha is an Indian bread pudding sweet made of fried bread slices soaked in hot milk with spices, including saffron and cardamom. Double ka meetha is a dessert of Hyderabad. It is popular in Hyderabadi cuisine, served at weddings and parties. Double ka meetha refers to the milk bread, called "double roti" in the local Indian dialects because it swells up to almost double its original size after baking.

Falooda

Falooda

A falooda is a Mughlai cold dessert made with vermicelli. It has origins in the Persian dish faloodeh, variants of which are found across West, Central, South and Southeast Asia. Traditionally it is made by mixing rose syrup, vermicelli, and sweet basil seeds with milk, often served with ice cream. The vermicelli used for preparing falooda is made from wheat, arrowroot, cornstarch, or sago. The origin of falooda goes back to Iran , where a similar dessert, faloodeh, is still popular. The dessert came to late Medieval India with the many Central Asian dynasties that invaded and settled in South Asia in the 16th to 18th century. The present form of falooda was developed in the Mughal Empire and spread with its conquests. The Persianate rulers who succeeded from the Mughals patronized the dessert with their own adaptations, specifically in Hyderabad Deccan and the Carnatic areas of present-day India. This beverage is now a part of Pakistani cuisine, Afghan cuisine, Burmese cuisine, Indian cuisine, Bangladeshi cuisine and Sri Lankan cuisine and is served on weddings and other occasions. In Sri Lanka, Falooda (ෆලුඩා / ஃபலூடா) is often consumed as a popular dairy refreshment.

Gajak

Gajak

Gajak, also known as Tilsakri, Tilpatti or Tilpapdi) is a confection originating in north-central India. It is a dry sweet made of sesame seeds with (or without) peanuts and jaggery. The sesame seeds (til) are cooked in the raw sugar syrup and set in thin layers, which can be stored for months. Gajak is prepared with sesame seeds and jaggery with a method of preparation which is time-consuming. It takes about 10–15 hours to prepare 5–8 kilograms of gajaks. The dough is hammered until all the sesame seeds break down and release their oils into the dough.

Gajar ka halwa

Gajar ka halwa

Gajar ka halwa, also known as Gajorer halwa, Gajarno halwo, Gajrela, Gajar pak, and carrot pudding, is a sweet Indian dessert made by placing grated carrots in a pot containing a specific amount of water, milk, sugar, and cardamom and then cooking with ghee while stirring regularly. It is often served with a garnish of almonds and pistachios. The nuts and other items used are first sautéed in ghee, a type of clarified butter from the Indian subcontinent. It is generally served hot during the winter. The dessert is traditionally eaten during all of the festivals in the Indian subcontinent, mainly on the occasion of Diwali, Holi, Raksha Bandhan, and Eid. It is served hot during the winter.

Ghevar

Ghevar

Ghevar or Ghewar is a disc-shaped Rajasthani sweet with a honeycomb-like texture, made from ghee, maida, and sugar syrup. It is traditionally associated with the month of Shraavana and the festivals of Teej and Raksha Bandhan. It is a part of Rajasthani tradition and is gifted to newly married daughter on Sinjara, the day preceding Gangaur and Teej. It is also one of the Chhapan Bhog served to the Lord Krishna. Besides Rajasthan, it is also famous in the adjoining states of Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Ghevar is savoured by masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor, too. Ghevar made its way into the coveted MasterChef Australia when Depinder Chhibber served the sweet in audition round of Season 13.

Gingerbread

Gingerbread

Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as a ginger snap. Originally, the term gingerbread referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. Gingerbread is often used to translate the French term pain d'épices (lit. 'spice bread') or the German and Polish terms Pfefferkuchen and Piernik respectively (lit. 'pepper cake' because it used to contain pepper) or Lebkuchen (of unclear etymology; either Latin libum, meaning "sacrifice" or "sacrificial bread," or German Laib for loaf or German for life, Leben). Pepper is also referenced in regional names like Norwegian pepperkaker or Czech perník (originally peprník). The meaning of gingerbread has evolved over time. For centuries the term referred to a traditional European pastry, very like a modern cookie, traditionally used to make gingerbread men. In the United States the first known recipe for "Soft gingerbread to be baked in pans" is found in Amelia Simmons' 1796 cookbook, American Cookery.

Gujia

Gujia

Gujhia, also known as Gughara, Pedakiya, Purukiya, Karanji, Kajjikayalu, Somas, and Karjikayi, is a sweet, deep-fried pastry that is a popular dessert in the Indian subcontinent. The earliest mention of gujiya dates back to the 13th century, when a jaggery-honey mixture was covered with wheat flour and was sun-dried. The preparation method of a typical gujiya/pedakiya is rather similar to that of a samosa, but the gujiya/pedakiya looks like an empanada. Shaped like a half moon, the gujiya or pedakiya is filled with a sweet mixture of grated and roasted dried fruits, khoa, grated coconut, and a hint of suji to lend it a grainy texture. This delicacy is made by mixing suji with maida (all-purpose flour), which is stuffed with a mixture of sweetened khoa (milk solids, also called mawa), powdered sugar, coconut and dried fruits like Raisins, crushed Almonds, Walnuts, Cashews, Pistachios. The dumplings are then fried in ghee to give it a crispy texture.

Gulab jamun

Gulab jamun

Gulab jamun is a sweet confectionery or dessert, originating in the Indian subcontinent, and a type of mithai popular in India, Pakistan, Nepal, the Maldives and Bangladesh, as well as Myanmar. It is also common in nations with substantial populations of people with South Asian heritage, such as Mauritius, Fiji, Gulf states, the Malay Peninsula, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, South Africa, and the Caribbean (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname). It is made mainly from milk solids, traditionally from khoya, which is milk reduced to the consistency of a soft dough. Modern recipes call for dried or powdered milk instead of khoya. It is often garnished with dried nuts, such as almonds and cashews, to enhance flavour.

Halva

Halva

Halva is a type of confectionery that is widely spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia, and South Asia. The name is used for a broad variety of recipes, generally a thick paste made from flour, butter, liquid oil, saffron, rosewater, milk, turmeric powder, and sweetened with sugar. The word halva entered the English language between 1840 and 1850 from Romanian, which came from Ottoman Turkish: حلوى, romanized: helva, itself ultimately derived from Arabic: حلوى, romanized: ḥalwā, a sweet confection. The root in Arabic: ح ل و, romanized: ḥ-l-w, means "sweet". The original name for the confection was Persian: روغن خورديگ, romanized: rōɣn khordīg, meaning "oil food".

Ice gola

Ice gola

Frozen fruit slush pops, many different flavors

Imarti

Imarti

Imarti is an Indian sweet made by deep-frying a batter prepared with black gram flour in a circular, flower-like shape, and then soaking it in sugar syrup Alternative names for the Imarti include Amitti, Amriti, Emarti, Omritti, Jahangir and Jhangiri/Jaangiri. This dish is similar to the jalebi, which is thinner and sweeter than Imarti. The Imarti is a popular Iftar food in Bangladesh, while in India, Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh is famous for its imartis.

Jaggery

Jaggery

Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can vary from golden brown to dark brown in colour. It contains up to 50% sucrose, up to 20% invert sugars, and up to 20% moisture, with the remainder made up of other insoluble matter, such as wood ash, proteins, and bagasse fibres. Jaggery is very similar to muscovado, an important sweetener in Portuguese, British and French cuisine. Jaggery comes from Portuguese terms jágara, jagra, borrowed from Malayalam ശർക്കര , which is borrowed from Sanskrit शर्करा (śarkarā). It is a doublet of sugar.

Jalebi

Jalebi

Jalebi [a] is a popular sweet snack in the Indian subcontinent, West Asia and some parts of Africa. It goes by many names, including jilapi, zelepi, jilebi, jilipi, zulbia, zoolbia, jerry, mushabak, z'labia, or zalabia. The south Asian variety is made by deep-frying maida flour batter in pretzel or circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup. Jalebi is eaten with curd or rabri (in North India) along with optional other flavors such as kewra (scented water).

Kaju katli

Kaju katli

Kaju katli is an Indian dessert. Kaju means cashew; barfi is often made by thickening milk with sugar and other ingredients (such as dry fruits and mild spices). Kesar kaju katli includes saffron. It is similar to barfi, but unlike barfi, it typically contains no milk. The dish is prepared with cashew nuts soaked in water for a considerable period of time (usually overnight), which are then ground to a paste. Sugar solution is boiled down until a single thread forms when two fingers are dipped into it and pulled apart, after which it is added to the ground cashews. Ghee, saffron (kesar), and dried fruits may also be added. The paste is then spread and flattened in a shallow, flat-bottomed dish and cut into bite-sized rhombus-shaped pieces. The pieces are usually decorated with edible silver foil. The finished sweet is usually white or yellow in color depending on the ingredients used for the paste and the proportions of each used. Kaju Katli is traditionally eaten during the Hindu festival of Diwali.

Kalakand

Kalakand

Kalakand is a sweet cheese confection from India. It has been described as "akin to Italian cheesecake, firmer in texture than milk cake, but softer than burfis." The earliest mention of kalakand as a sweet appears in the 19th-century Urdu text Zīnat al-ʿarūs. However, contemporary sources state that kalakand was invented in the Baba Thakur Das & Sons halwai shop in Alwar, Rajasthan in 1947, where it is still sold today.

Karachi halwa

Karachi halwa

Sweet confection made with corn flour, cardamom, fruit flavors, nuts, similar to turkish delight

Khaja

Khaja

Khaja or Khajuri is an Indian deep-fried pastry, commonly filled with fruit or soaked with sugar syrup. Khaja, plain or sweet mentioned in Silao, was a wheat flour preparation fried in ghee similar to Chandrakala, a flaky dessert from South India. Khaja is believed to have originated from the eastern parts of the former state of Magadh and the former United Provinces and Magadh. Silao, Nalanda districts of Bihar, and is also native to state of Magadh as well as regions like Kutch and Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Refined wheat flour with sugar is made into layered dough, with or without dry fruit or other stuffing, and lightly fried in oil to make khaja. In his 1872–1873 expedition to Silao, renowned British archaeologist Joseph David Beglar, talks about the sweet that dates back to King Vikramaditya and describes the sweetmeat. There is a famous folk tale that the Lord Buddha was offered Silao Khaja as he traveled through Silao on his way from Rajgir to Nalanda. There are Buddhist sites nearby Silao.

Kheer

Kheer

Kheer, also known as payasam or payesh, is a pudding or porridge popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice. It can be additionally flavoured with dried fruits, nuts, cardamom and saffron. Instead of rice, it may contain cracked wheat, vermicelli , sago or tapioca (sabudana). In Southern India, it is known as payasam and it is made in various ways. The most popular versions are the ones made with rice and vermicelli (semiya).

Kulfi

Kulfi

Kulfi is a frozen dairy dessert from the Indian subcontinent. It is often described as "traditional Indian ice cream". Kulfi originated in 16th-century Delhi during the Mughal era. It is part of the national cuisines of India and Pakistan.[citation needed] It is also popular in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East.[better source needed]

Laddu

Laddu

Laddu or laddoo is a spherical sweet from the Indian subcontinent made of various ingredients and sugar syrup or jaggery. It has been described as "perhaps the most universal and ancient of Indian sweets." Laddus are often served during celebrations and religious festivals, especially those associated with the Hindu deity Ganesha.

Lapsi

Lapsi

Sweet cracked wheat porridge

Lauki halwa

Lauki halwa

Bottle gourd or opo squash sweet

Magaj

Magaj

Gram flour confection with nuts

Makhan malai

Makhan malai

Makhan Malai or Malai Makkhan also called Malaiyo Hindi pronunciation: [mʌləɪʎɔː] or Nimish is a sweet snack made from milk cream during the winters. This dessert is prepared in many parts of Uttar Pradesh especially in cities of Kanpur, Varanasi and Lucknow and parts of Bihar. Another version is available in Delhi as Daulat ki Chaat. Even-though it literally translates to cream butter, it contains neither. It takes eight hours to prepare the dessert. Preparation starts a day before with cow milk being boiled in a huge cauldron. Then, fresh cream is added, and the milk is boiled again and allowed to cool under the sky. This is perhaps the most important step when the milk is exposed to dew and remains in the open for four to five hours. This is the only reason why it cannot be prepared in the summer. The heat will melt the butter. Next, dew-exposed milk is churned for three hours in the morning. Powdered sugar, yellow color, and cardamom powder are added to give it the final flavor.

Malai kulfi

Malai kulfi

A frozen dessert similar to ice cream that is made with whole milk or condensed milk

Malida

Malida

Malida is a traditional sweet dessert popular among Pashtun and Persian households in Afghanistan and Pakistan, popular among people in northern India and Pakistan, as well as Hyderabad Deccan. It is made from leftover bread (called Dodei by Pashtuns and Parathas or Rotis in desi households) that is crumbled and pounded, then stir fried with ghee, sugar, dried fruits, and nuts. Malida is often given to young children in the winter as ghee is believed to warm the body and prevent colds, and it is also a traditional dish for some Muslims on the last Wednesday of the Islamic month Safar. Malida is a common way to use up extra parathas or rotis. The word 'malida' comes from Pashto word meaning 'finely crushed', equivalent of the Persian 'ميده' with the same meaning. The word Choori is derived from the word Choor (چُور) which means pieces, this implies that the Parathas or Rotis are broken down into smaller pieces and mixed with various other ingredients to make this sweet dish. Many Muslims in the Indian subcontinent celebrate the last Wednesday of the Islamic month Safar by fasting, and breaking the fast with sweet Choori. The method is supposedly attributed to Sunnah, but almost every Islamic Sect deems it a Bid'ah (i.e. Innovation in Religion).

Malpua

Malpua

Malpua, or sometimes shortened to pua, is a sweetened breakfast served with morning tea or as a snack with evening tea or as a dessert originating from Eastern South Asia, popular in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Barley was the most prolific grain eaten by the Aryans of the Vedic period. One preparation was a sweet cake called malpua, where barley flour was either fried in ghee or boiled in water, and then dipped in honey. Malpua preserves both the name and the essentials of this preparation. In South Indian states such as Tamil Nadu, the same dish is also known as Adhirasam.

Marzipan

Marzipan

Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal , sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and small marzipan imitations of fruits and vegetables. It can also be used in biscuits or rolled into thin sheets and glazed for icing cakes, primarily birthday cakes, wedding cakes and Christmas cakes. Marzipan may also be used as a baking ingredient, as in stollen or banket. In some countries, it is shaped into small figures of animals as a traditional treat for New Year's Day or Christmas. Marzipan is also used in Tortell, and in some versions of king cake eaten during the Carnival season.

Milk cake

Milk cake

Bars made with sweetened curdled milk, lemon juice or citric acid, cardamom, ghee, pistachios, this milk cake is different than tres leches, hot milk cake and kiru boakiba

Mishti doi

Mishti doi

Mishti doi is a fermented sweet doi (yogurt) originating from the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent and common in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam's Barak Valley, and in the nation of Bangladesh. It is made with milk and sugar or jaggery. It differs from the plain yogurt because of the technique of preparation. There are many variations of mishti doi according to their popularity. Sweet curd of Nabadwip, Kolkata, Bogra, etc are very popular. Mishti doi is prepared by boiling milk until it is slightly thickened, sweetening it with sugar, either gura (brown sugar) or khejur gura (date molasses), and allowing the milk to ferment overnight. Earthenware is always used as the container for making mitha dahi because the gradual evaporation of water through its porous walls not only further thickens the yoghurt, but also produces the right temperature for the growth of the culture. Very often the yoghurt is delicately seasoned with a pinch of cardamom for fragrance. Baked yogurt is a similar preparation in the West.[citation needed]

Modak

Modak

Modak , Modakam (Sanskrit: मोदकम्), or Modaka (Kannada: ಮೋದಕ), also referred to as Koḻukattai (கொழுக்கட்டை) in Tamil, and Kozhukkatta (കൊഴുക്കട്ട) in Malayalam, is an Indian sweet dish popular in many Indian states and cultures. According to Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, it is one of the favourite dishes of Ganesha and the Buddha and is therefore used in prayers. The sweet filling inside a modak consists of freshly grated coconut and jaggery, while the outer soft shell is made from rice flour or wheat flour mixed with khowa or maida flour. There are two distinct varieties of Modakam, fried and steamed. The steamed version (called Ukadiche Modakam) is often served hot with ghee.

Moong dal halwa

Moong dal halwa

A sweet yellow lentil dish with saffron, cardamom and ghee

Mousse

Mousse

A mousse is a soft prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture. Depending on preparation techniques, it can range from light and fluffy to creamy and thick. A mousse may be sweet or savoury. Sweet mousses are typically made with whipped egg whites, whipped cream, or both, and flavored with one or more of chocolate, coffee, caramel, puréed fruits, or various herbs and spices, such as mint or vanilla. In the case of some chocolate mousses, egg yolks are often stirred into melted chocolate to give the final product a richer mouthfeel. Mousses are also typically chilled before being served, which gives them a denser texture. Additionally, mousses are often frozen into silicone molds and unmolded to give the mousse a defined shape. Sweetened mousse is served as a dessert or used as an airy cake filling. It is sometimes stabilized with gelatin. Savoury mousses can be made from meat, fish, shellfish, foie gras, cheese, or vegetables. Hot mousses often get their light texture from the addition of beaten egg whites.

Murabba

Murabba

Sweet fruit preserves/marmalade, many different kinds

Nankhatai

Nankhatai

Nankhatai / نان خطائی (Urdu); Sinhala: ඤාණකතා; Tamil: நானஹத்தா) are shortbread biscuits originating in the Indian state of Gujarat. They are now popular throughout India and also in the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar. They have also recently gained popularity in Afghanistan and Iran. The word nankhatai is derived from the Classical Persian نانِ خطائی nān-i khaṭāʾī, lit. 'Cathayan bread, bread of Cathay [northern China]', composed of نان nān meaning ‘bread’ and خطائی khaṭāʾī meaning ‘Cathayan’. The word has been borrowed into the Burmese language as nankahtaing (နံကထိုင်), in the Tamil language (in East Tamil Nadu) as naanahatha (நானஹத்தா), and in the Sinhala language (in Sri Lanka) as ghanakatha (ඤාණකතා).

Panjiri

Panjiri

Panjiri is an Ayurvedic sweet dish from the Indian subcontinent which is specially prepared for Krishna Janmashtami festival. The sweet panjiri evolved from an Ayurvedic preparation called Panchajīraka. The term panjīrī is derived from Sanskrit word panchajīraka which is an Ayurvedic preparation. The term panchajīraka is ultimately from Sanskrit elements panch and jīraka (cumin or herbal ingredients here). Panjiri is prepared by roasting wheat flour in ghee and adding dry fruits and spices like jeera (cumin), dhaniya (coriander), saunth (dry ginger powder), saunf (fennel) etc. Alternatively, the term panjeri is also used in Rajasthani dialects.Similarly, term pañjarī is used in Marathi and Gujarati languages. As per The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionary, Pañjarī is sweetmeat composed of five ingredients, viz. ginger, coriander, ōṃvā or Ajwaen, pepper (or cocoanut), and sugar. Distributed on birthdays of Kṛṣṇa & Rāma and of children. Panjiri is consumed in Indian states of Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. It is known by the name Panchjeeraka Gudam in Southern Indian states.

Panna cotta

Panna cotta

Panna cotta is an Italian dessert of sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and molded. The cream may be aromatized with coffee, vanilla, or other flavorings. The name panna cotta is not mentioned in Italian cookbooks before the 1960s, yet it is often cited as a traditional dessert of the northern Italian region of Piedmont. One unverified story says that it was invented by a Hungarian woman in the Langhe in the early 19th century. An 1879 dictionary mentions a dish called latte inglese (lit. 'English milk'), made of cream cooked with gelatin and molded, although other sources say that latte inglese is made with egg yolks, such as crème anglaise; perhaps the name covered any thickened custard-like preparation. The dish might also come from the French recipe of fromage bavarois from Marie-Antoine Carême in le pâtissier royal parisien, which is the same as the modern panna cotta, except that one part of the cream is whipped to make chantilly and included in the preparation before adding the gelatin.

Parshad

Parshad

Sweet wheat pudding, made with wheat flour, sugar, ghee and water

Patishapta

Patishapta

A crêpe or crepe is a dish made from unleavened batter or dough that is cooked on a frying pan or a griddle. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: sweet crêpes (crêpes sucrées) or savoury galettes (crêpes salées). They are often served with a wide variety of fillings such as cheese, fruit, vegetables, meats, and a variety of spreads. Crêpes can also be flambéed, such as in crêpes Suzette. The French term "crêpe" derives from crispa, the feminine version of the Latin word crispus, which means "curled, wrinkled, having curly hair."

Peda

Peda

Peda or Pera is an Indian sweet that originated in the city of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India. Traditionally prepared as thick, semi-soft round balls, its main ingredients are khoa, sugar and traditional flavourings including cardamom seeds. It is brown in colour. Variant spellings and names for the dessert include pedha, penda (in Gujarati) and pera. The word pda is derived from the Sanskrit word Piṇḍa or Piṇḍaka which refers to a lump of food and also a milk & flour-based sweet in the form of a lump. Piṇḍaka as a sweet finds mention in Ayurvedic & Pākaśāstra texts ranging from Charaka Samhita of the 4th century BCE to Bhojanakutūhala of 17th century CE. Charaka Samhita enlists piṇḍaka along with flour-based Indian sweets and describes them as heavy. Bhojanakutūhala describes the preparation of the sweet using milk and sugar with the use of spices like cardamom, cloves and pepper.

1
2
3
...
Next