World Chocolate Day is a cause for celebrating one of the most sought-after dessert options all around the world. In India too, it is an excellent addition to mithai like barfis, pedhas, and other sweet treats that have been reinvented over the years to incorporate chocolate in their making. From chocolate compound bricks to the costlier coverture chocolate, innovations and alterations in Indian sweets have meant adding cocoa in the most tasteful ways to popular desserts.
Most sweet treats taste delicious when infused with chocolate because they remain consistent in their own texture and flavour with the simple addition of this much-loved ingredient. Now, halwais and mithaiwalas regularly prepare sweets flavoured with chocolate, just as they would flavour them with nuts or fruits. Read on below for some Indian desserts that incorporate chocolate into their variations:
Chocolate Pedha
This favourite sweet treat made out of khoya is enjoyed on special occasions or festivals. Chocolate pedha is made by infusing lots of good-quality chocolate into the original recipe, which keeps the shape of these small, round sweet treats intact. Khoya and chocolate are a remarkable combination that has quickly made the chocolate pedha a popular Indian mithai.
Chocolate Modak
Chocolate modaks are made using drinking chocolate powder, which infuses this dessert with a hint of chocolatey notes. Popular during the 10-day Ganesha festival, chocolate modaks are made from khoya and are nicely complimented with the addition of several nuts and dry fruits to the recipe.
Chocolate Barfi
This is a very popular dessert made from chocolate powder and milk powder mixed in sugar syrup. Made during Diwali or on other festive occasions, it also contains generous helpings of condensed milk that help to bring all the ingredients together. With crushed almonds and cashews thrown into the mix, the chocolate barfi tastes like a rather delicious and denser version of a chocolate brownie.
Chocolate Kaju Katli
The diamond-shaped kaji katli is a favourite sweet treat, and one of its most attractive points is the layer of silver foil over the cashew and khoya base. For making chocolate kaju katli, a good amount of melted chocolate is poured over the base while keeping the flavour of the original kaju katli intact.
Chocolate Rasmalai
Infusing chocolate in rasmalai is a delicious prospect that retains the sweet notes of the milk treat while adding all the yumminess of good-quality cocoa. The sweet rasmalai balls dipped in milk carry just the right amount of chocolate flavour, which is neither too subtle nor too overpowering.
Chocolate Sheera
The sheera, or suji halwa, is traditionally made using rawa, ghee, and milk. Bananas are also added to the sheera, especially on puja days. In recent years, home cooks have started adding cocoa powder or chunks of the dark compound to the sheera to give it a nice chocolate flavour that pairs well with the richness of milk and ghee.
Chocolate Paan
Chocolate-coated paan is a popular dessert alternative in many towns and cities across India. This sweet paan is literally dipped in melted chocolate and frozen so that the chocolate forms a thick coating around the dark green folded paan leaf. Chocolate mixed with the other refreshing flavours that go into making the paan is a delightful combination.