Mithai, made anywhere

Traditional Indian sweets, written for a kitchen far from home.

Time-tested recipes for traditional Indian sweets (mithai) — barfi, ladoo, halwa, Bengali sweets and more — written for cooks abroad, with ingredient swaps you can actually find and both US cup and metric measures.

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Round golden-brown sesame ladoo piled on a pale ceramic plate on a wooden board Latest recipe Til Ladoo (Sesame Jaggery Ladoo) for Sankranti

Fresh from the kitchen

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Square slab of orange, white and green barfi cut into neat pieces, stacked on a pale ceramic plate 1 hr
Festival Sweets

Tiranga Barfi (Three-Colour Barfi)

A khoya barfi built in three coloured layers that fuse into one slab if each pour is timed right.
Golden cashew pinwheels with a saffron-amber swirl, sliced and arranged on a pale ceramic plate with pistachio flecks 55 min
Barfi & Fudge

Kaju Roll (Cashew Rolls with Kesar Filling)

Thin sheets of cashew katli dough rolled around a saffron-cardamom filling, sliced into neat pinwheels.
Pale gold flaky squares dusted with crushed pistachio and cardamom, arranged on a white ceramic plate 1 hr
Barfi & Fudge

Soan Papdi at Home (Flaky Layered Mithai)

A homemade version of the tin-box classic, built on pulled sugar threads and a gram-and-chickpea flour dough.
Golden-brown besan barfi squares topped with sliced pistachios, arranged on a pale ceramic plate 50 min
Barfi & Fudge

Besan Barfi (Fudgy Gram Flour Barfi)

A dense, fudgy besan barfi that depends on roasting the gram flour to a deep amber shade before it meets the sugar.
Small saffron-orange ladoo with a bumpy pearled texture, piled on a pale ceramic plate, flecked with chopped pistachio 1 hr 15 min
Ladoo

Motichoor Ladoo (No Jhara Needed)

Tiny fried boondi pearls, soaked in syrup and bound into soft ladoo, made with just a slotted spoon.
Round dark-brown dry fruit ladoo studded with nut pieces, piled on a pale ceramic plate on a wooden board 20 min
No-Cook Sweets

Dry Fruit Ladoo (No Sugar, No Cooking)

Dates, nuts and seeds ground to a sticky paste in the food processor and rolled, no stove involved.

Where to start

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Golden diamond-cut squares of grainy besan barfi topped with slivered pistachios, arranged on a pale ceramic plate 1 hr 5 min
Barfi & Fudge

Mohanthal (Gujarati Besan Barfi)

A grainy, ghee-rich Gujarati besan barfi, with the texture built in at the dhabo stage before roasting.
Diamond-cut kaju katli under silver leaf, fanned on a pale ceramic plate 45 min
Barfi & Fudge

Kaju Katli (Cashew Barfi) Without a Candy Thermometer

Thin, diamond-cut cashew fudge made with just cashews and sugar syrup, cooked to the classic one-string stage by eye and feel.
Dark gulab jamun sitting in syrup in a speckled ceramic bowl on a wooden board 1 hr 5 min
Fried Sweets

Gulab Jamun with Milk Powder (No Khoya Needed)

A reliable milk-powder version of gulab jamun for kitchens abroad, with fixes for hard centres and jamuns that fall apart in the syrup.
Carrot halwa topped with slivered almonds and pistachios in a speckled ceramic bowl 1 hr
Halwa

Gajar ka Halwa (Carrot Halwa) in Under an Hour

A faster gajar halwa using bagged pre-grated carrots and evaporated milk instead of hours at the stove reducing whole milk.
Dark date barfi squares studded with pistachio and almond, stacked on a pale speckled plate 32 min
No-Cook Sweets

Khajur Barfi (No-Sugar Date Barfi)

A dense, chewy date-and-nut barfi that sets firm from the dates' own stickiness, with no sugar or khoya at all.
Round besan ladoo stacked on a pale ceramic plate on a wooden board 45 min
Ladoo

Besan Ladoo (Gram Flour Sweet Balls)

Ghee-roasted gram flour ladoo with the slow-roast technique that gets the grainy, melt-in-the-mouth texture right every time.

Most of these recipes are written around not having khoya. The guides to khoya and milk powder explain what to buy instead, and why.

Browse by type

Festival Sweets

Sweets made for one day of the year, from Diwali to Independence Day.

2 recipes

No-Cook Sweets

Quick mithai with little or no stovetop time.

5 recipes

Halwa

Warm, ghee-rich halwas from sooji to gajar.

1 recipe

Barfi & Fudge

Set, sliceable milk and nut fudges.

5 recipes

Ladoo

Round, hand-rolled sweets for every occasion.

2 recipes

Fried Sweets

Gulab jamun and the other fried, syrup-soaked classics.

1 recipe

Why another recipe site?

Because most mithai recipes assume you can walk to a sweet shop for khoya. Ours assume you can't — every one comes with swaps you can find abroad, cup and metric measures, and honest notes on what each sweet should look and feel like at every stage.

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