Guides · 3 min read ·
Pakistani Desserts for Beginners
Where to start with Pakistani desserts: the easiest sweets to make first, the techniques behind them, and how to progress from kheer and suji halwa to gulab jamun and rasmalai.
Pakistani desserts can look like the work of specialist halwais: perfectly round gulab jamun, delicate rasmalai, glossy halwa. Some do take practice, but many of the best-loved sweets are simple home dishes that need only patience and a few basic techniques. Here’s where to begin, and how to build up to the harder ones.
The three techniques behind most desi sweets
Reducing milk. Kheer, firni, rasmalai, rabri and kulfi all depend on full-fat milk simmered slowly until it thickens. It’s easy but slow, and the main risk is scorching. Our guide to reducing milk covers it.
Roasting in ghee. Halwas (suji, besan, gajar) start by roasting the main ingredient in ghee until it turns golden and smells nutty. Rushing this step is the most common mistake.
Sugar syrup. Gulab jamun, shahi tukray and many halwas use a sugar syrup, or , cooked to a particular consistency. See our chashni guide.
Start here: the easiest sweets
Suji halwa. Semolina roasted in ghee, then cooked with sugar syrup and cardamom. Ready in 20 minutes with ingredients most kitchens already have.
Kheer. Rice simmered in milk with sugar and cardamom. It takes an hour, but most of that is gentle stirring.
Sheer khurma. Vermicelli cooked in milk with dates and nuts, the Eid morning dessert. Quick and forgiving.
Firni. Like kheer, but made with ground rice, so it’s smooth and sets in bowls. A good next step after kheer.
Next: a little more technique
Gajar halwa. Grated carrots slow-cooked in milk, then fried in ghee with sugar. Easy, but takes time.
Besan ladoo. Gram flour roasted in ghee, then shaped with sugar. The skill is in the slow roasting.
Zarda. Sweet saffron rice, made like a pulao with sugar. Good for practising rice cooking.
Kulfi. Reduced milk frozen in moulds, with no churning needed.
When you’re ready: the classics
Gulab jamun. Milk-powder dumplings fried slowly and soaked in syrup. The challenges are a soft dough, frying at the right low temperature, and the right syrup.
Rasmalai. Soft discs poached and soaked in saffron-cardamom milk. Delicate, and very rewarding when it works.
Shahi tukray. Fried bread in syrup topped with , rich and festive.
Common mistakes
- Burnt milk: use a heavy pot and scrape the bottom often.
- Raw-tasting halwa: roast the suji or besan longer, on lower heat.
- Hard gulab jamun: the dough was over-kneaded or the oil too hot.
- Too sweet: Pakistani sweets are traditionally very sweet, but you can reduce sugar by a quarter in most home recipes without problems.
Party desserts
Not every Pakistani party dessert is traditional. Fruit trifle and lab-e-shireen are modern favourites at dawats, and they’re very easy: mostly custard, fruit and jelly assembled the day before.
Start with suji halwa this week, kheer next weekend, and you’ll be ready for gulab jamun within a month.
