Phirni is a dessert made with ground rice that's cooked in milk and flavored with almonds, saffron, and cardamom. A favorite in North India, it is most often prepared for special occasions or festivals such as Diwali and Karwa Chauth. Traditionally served in small clay bowls known as shikoras, phirni is always eaten well-chilled and garnished with nuts, rose petals, and often with silver paper or chandi warq to make it even more luxurious.
MOST ICONIC Phirni
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Kulfi is a traditional ice cream made with slowly simmered whole milk. Although the long-simmering process results in a loss of volume, it makes up for it with a delicious, nutty, caramelized flavor. The ice cream is characterized by its unusual, conical shape, a result of using traditional, special molds with tight-fitting lids.
Kulfi is usually flavored with traditional Indian ingredients such as pistachio, rose water, and saffron, although some cooks prefer to flavor it with fruits such as berries. It is believed that kulfi was invented by the ancient inhabitants of the Himalayas during the Mughal Empire era.
VARIATIONS OF Kulfi
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This traditional Rajasthani sweet delicacy is made with a batter of flour, ghee, and cold water that is carefully poured into piping hot oil or ghee to fry, yielding a round, disc-shaped dessert with an intricate pattern. After it has been deep-fried to perfection, the dessert is either covered with or immersed into sugar syrup, and it's typically garnished with thickened milk (rabri), silver flakes, and chopped nuts such as almonds or pistachios on top.
Often dubbed the honeycomb dessert due to its distinctive appearance, ghevar is usually flavored with saffron and cardamom powder, and it can also be made with khoa (dried evaporated milk solids) or malai (milk cream) instead of water.
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Usually associated with northern Indian regions, this refreshing treat combines thin falooda noodles and kulfi, a traditional Indian ice cream made with slowly simmered whole milk that is flavored with pistachio, rose water, and saffron. The whole dessert is often elevated with various additions such as sweet basil seeds, jelly, or rose water, and it is frequently garnished with crushed nuts.
Traditionally enjoyed during the summer, kulfi falooda is commonly prepared at home, but can also be found on the menus of traditional restaurants or at specialized street stalls.
MOST ICONIC Kulfi falooda
Gajar ka halwa is a sweet pudding made with grated carrots, milk, sugar, nuts, clarified butter known as ghee, and dried milk known as khoya. The dessert originated in Northern India and Pakistan, but today it's consumed throughout India as an everyday treat or a traditional sweet during numerous Indian festivals.
This dessert can be modified by adding either seasonal or regional ingredients, and it can be consumed warm or chilled. The best-known variations of gajar ka halwa include the sugar-free version of gajar ka halwa made with papaya, red velvet gajar ka halwa made with cream milk, saffron, and rose water, a version made with ricotta and purple carrots, and beetroot gajar ka halwa.
MOST ICONIC Gajar ka halwa
View moreBoondi are small deep-fried round balls made from besan (gram flour). They come in a sweet or savor version. The process of making boondi starts with a thick besan batter that is poured through a sieve and dropped directly into sizzling oil, creating small deep-fried droplets.
If enjoyed as a dessert, these tiny, crispy balls are usually coated in sugary syrups or incorporated into popular boondi laddu balls. Savory versions are typically enjoyed as a snack and are often combined with yogurt-based raitas, curries, or sprinkled over salads.
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Panjiri is a popular Indian dessert consisting of whole-wheat flour, ghee, sugar, dried fruits, and herbal gums. It is traditionally offered to new mothers after delivery because panjiri is also regarded as a nutritional supplement. The dish is especially popular during winter, since it is believed that panjiri will ward off colds.
There are numerous variations on the dish with added ingredients such as lotus seeds, melon seeds, dried coconut, ginger, or poppy seeds.
MOST ICONIC Panjiri
Churma is a north Indian dish that is mainly prepared with various types of crumbled bread. It is especially popular in Rajasthan where it is made with baati (bati) bread, and Haryana, where the locals opt for roti, paratha, or puri.
The fine crumbs are then mixed with ghee, sugar, cardamom, and (often) various nuts or, occasionally, dry fruits. The dish is usually finished off with melted ghee. In Rajasthan, churma is mostly enjoyed as a part of a dish named dal bati churma—a delicious combination of churma, dal, and baati bread.
MOST ICONIC Churma
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Gujiya is a popular North Indian sweet pastry that is traditionally enjoyed during the Holi festival. These crescent-shaped treats are made with thinly rolled dough and a filling consisting of khoya (dried evaporated milk) and chopped nuts such as almonds, cashews, and pistachios.
The dough can be made with all-purpose flour and semolina, while the fillings can sometimes include dry fruit, desiccated coconut, and cardamom. Gujiya can be baked or deep-fried. It is similar and often compared to karanji—a deep-fried Maharashtran pastry usually filled with coconut, poppy seeds, and nuts.
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Gajak is a sweet, dry snack with North Indian origins, made with sesame seeds and jaggery. Although thinly layered squares of gajak can be stored for a few months, the snack is most commonly consumed in the winter months since it is a part of typical Indian festive cuisine.
It is usually prepared around the harvest time and consumed at festivals such as Pongal. Flavorful and nutritious, gajak has many variations depending on the region, so in South India it is shaped into balls, and in North India, jaggery is sometimes substituted with sugar.
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