India has a large repertoire of sweets. Each region has its own specialties. Basically, Indian sweets are different forms of rice puddings, milk puddings, vegetables & fruits dipped in sweet syrup. Besides, there are varieties of fudge like sweets called Barfis. Indian sweets are decorated or garnished with raisins, almonds, pistachio and the like.
Some other popular Indian sweets are:- Kheer, Halwa (pudding), Rasgulla (spongy cheese balls, dipped in sugar syrup), Gulab Jamun, Rasmalai, Sandesh and ladoos. 'Kulfi' is the Indian version of Ice-cream.
Most Indian sweets are made by boiling down milk to remove the moisture. It is called khoa. Adding butter, sugar and many other flavours, these are turned into barfi, malai, kheer, rasgulla and sandesh.