Indian Sweets

Indian sweetmeats like Indian meat dishes are in a class by themselves. There is no parallel to them in English cookery. Unlike sweet preparations of other countries, Indian sweetmeats can be served as puddings, as well as teatime snacks. The best of the Indian sweetmeats are mostly prepared from milk with the addition of substantial quantities of sugar. The milk used is either in the form of khoa (dried fresh whole milk) or chenna (Indian soft cream cheese). Khoa is prepared by boiling fresh milk until a semi-solid mass is obtained, while chenna is prepared by curdling the milk with tartaric acid, separating the curds and suspending them in a muslin bag until all the whey drips out. Varying proportions of one or both of these substances, when mixed with ingredients like nuts or coconut, result in some very delicious sweets.