Julie Sahni and Suvir Saran were the Worlds of Flavor® Pastry guides to the world of Indian sweets.

Desserts are India’s heartbeat, served twice at a meal. A very small portion is served with the savory food, a teaser to make one smile. At the end of the meal a full portion is served. Dessert is so important to Indian culture that if guests are not served dessert they will refuse subsequent invitations.

Spices are vital to Indian desserts, and there is an art to spice preparation. They can be toasted, crushed, or roasted, and are used in both raw and cooked forms.

Most milk used is Indian desserts is water buffalo milk, not cow’s milk. It has a fat content of eight to 11 percent, and is not pasteurized or homogenized.

Indian desserts include:

• Kheer: Basic rice pudding, made of rice, milk, and flavoring.
• Ras Malai: Milk and lemon juice heated until the mixture curdles. It is strained and the solid cheese turned into balls and cooked is in syrup. They are then flattened and soak in milk.
• Srikhand: Yogurt is hung to decrease the moisture and slightly soften it. Mangoes and nuts are added.
• Panchamridam: A food of religious royal Hindus, it is composed of milk, coconut, jaggery, ghee, and nuts.
• Jalabi: A street food, thin runny soured pizza dough, deep fried and then dipped in syrup.

Indian dessert ingredients:

• Milk.
• Whole cardamom.
• Cashews.
• Rosewater.
• Pistachios.
• Almonds.
• Kewra water: Diluted essence of pandanus (screw pine) leaves.
• Jaggery: Crude brown sugar from sugar cane, also known as gur.
• Vark: Silver foil around pistachios and cardamoms.
• Ghee: Essentially Indian clarified butter. Butter cooked until milk solids evaporate and fudgy flavor develops. When made properly, two pounds of butter takes 35 minutes to turn into ghee. Used as flavor ingredient, not fat. Fruits cooked in ghee caramelize faster.
• Sugar.
• Rice.
• Khoya: Milk product made by cooking down milk to fudge consistency.