Sweetmeat Recipes

Sweetmeats usually mean candy, sweet confections, desserts or meat dishes which are made sweet. The concept of sweetmeats most likely began as a way of preserving fruit and nuts in sugar. Research says that ancient Egyptians were the first ones to make sweetmeats and they were made with honey. Doctors in the middle ages used to mix their medicines with sweetmeats so that it would be easy for patients to consume. Sweetmeats became popular in England during the 17th century. Always remember candies made with chocolate cannot be considered as sweetmeats. In many cases sweetmeats are confused with sweetbreads. They are two different foods.

Ancient Sweetmeat with Honey
Ingredients

• 200 gm white flour
• 50 gm walnuts
• 50 gm sesame
• 50 gm peeled almonds
• 1 cup honey
• 3 eggs

Method

1. Crush almonds and walnuts properly and grind the sesame.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C.
3. In a bowl, add honey, eggs and beat them nicely and slowly add the flour and all the other ingredients and mix until you get a smooth mixture.
4. Grease a cake pan and drizzle with ground sesame and then pour the smooth mixture.
5. Place the cake pan in the oven and bake it for 45 minutes, leaving the oven door open for the initial 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes in room temperature and serve with maple syrup.

Almond Cream Sweetmeat
Ingredients

• 4 cup milk
• cup sugar
• 1 cup powdered almonds
• 125 gm blanched almonds
• 1 pinch of ground cardamom
• 2 tbsp blanched pistachio nuts
• 1 edible silver leaf (it is optional)

Method

1. In a saucepan, boil the milk over high flame and keep stirring it continuously, until it becomes thick.
2. Add sugar and keep stirring on low flame for 10 minutes.
3. Add the powdered almonds and continue to cook until it forms a thick base.
4. Remove from heat and sprinkle it with ground cardamom and blanched almonds on top and mix well.
5. After it is cooled remove it on a greased plate and smoothen it with the back of a butter spoon and slightly cut it in diamond shapes and place the silver leaves on it, so that it gets an attractive look.

Simple Sweetmeat Recipe
Ingredients

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp rosewater
• 250 gm honey
• 150 gm shelled pistachios
• 150g plain cake crumbs
• 2 sheets edible rice paper

Method

1. Heat vegetable oil in a pan over medium flame and add pistachios and fry for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep these fried pistachios on a paper towel to drain.
2. Pour honey, cake crumbs and those fried pistachios and in a pan and heat them for 5 minutes. You will find the stirring very difficult.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in rosewater and keep it aside to cool.
4. Cut rice paper sheet in long sides measuring 5 cm each.
5. Pour mixture on the sheets and shape them as a roll and allow it to cool.
6. Serve it with mint tea.

Carrot Pudding
Ingredients

• 250 gm carrots
• 4 cups of milk
• cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp ground almonds
• 1 pinch of saffron strands
• 1 tsp ground cardamom

Method

1. Wash and scrape the carrots and grate them. In a large saucepan add milk and bring it to a boil.
2. Take out 2 tsp of milk and soak saffron strands in it.
3. Add the grated carrots and cook until the carrots are soft and tender. This will take about 30 minutes.
4. Add sugar, almonds, ground cardamom and saffron stands and mix until sugar is dissolved and the mixture becomes thick.
5. You can serve carrot pudding warm or cold.

So these were some popular recipes of sweetmeats. Sweetmeat recipes are an excellent choice for a nice family dinner and dessert. The above mentioned delicious dishes can also be made during festivities and parties. Do try all these recipes and share your experiments with me.