5 Pakistani Sweets to Devour with your Cuppa

Chai ke saath kuch meetha ho jaye?

Tea is entrenched in the Pakistani way of life. Come winter, come summer, din mein kuch martaba chai to banti hai. While chai is my love, meetha is my life. Shaam ki chai with some meetha is my daily ritual. That’s just how I unwind, with my feet up on the sofa and a good episode to watch or maybe just catch up on Facebook. During Ramzan, however, my chai and meetha session gets pushed to late at night once the iftar, namaz, dinner etc are done and my blood cells are screaming for some sugar therapy.

I do enjoy my cup of tea with biscuits, cakes, pies and tarts but Pakistan also fairs well in providing yummy sugary options to enjoy my peace and tea with. Here are 5 ways you can enjoy your cup of bliss with riwaayati meethay.

Public Service Message: It all tastes best with mix chai, not the tea bag wala drama. Add a cardamom or two while the tea is cooking for an extra kick of flavor!

Disclaimer: Do not read while fasting. Pictures may be injurious to health - and eimaan.

Gulab Jaman

As soft as a good sweet should be, Gulab Jamun, with its poetic name, is the sweet of the Mughals. The name is derived from gul and aab in Persian which mean flower and water respectively. Aab is there for the ingredient rose water which gives it its signature aroma. Jamun is part of the name because the shape and purplish colour are reminiscent of the fruit jamun.  One gulab jamun with my late night cup of tea makes me sleep a happy woman. If you're in Karachi, visit Burns Road and have a few from the theyla right next to Babu Bhai’s bun kabab stall. It will be a trip to heaven. That's my guarantee!

My gulloos do look glamourous in those ramekins. Hmm!

That is history in your spoon which will turn to heaven in your mouth!

Jalebi

I don’t like my jalebis with iftar. Their awesomeness gets overshadowed by the sheer joy of just getting to eat at Maghrib. My piece of jalebi deserves its own time slot, I believe, so I can pause to hear the crunch when I bite it and allow the taste to reign in my mouth.  Hence, I save my piece for later and love it with my chai.

 Isn’t this orange, pretzel lookalike, sugar syrup dipped sweet just beautiful?

Muft Mashwara # 1: Warm it up in the oven before digging in, NOT the microwave please.

Multani Sohan Halwa

Sohan Halwa is definitely a gift of the City of Saints, Multan, for the entire subcontinent region. This 200 year old mithaai comes with a variety of nuts but my personal favorite is the one with walnuts. I love it because of its sumptuous flavor, its sticky, toffee-like texture and also because my childhood memories are attached to it. My father used to travel a lot when we were young and used to bring Hafiz ka Sohan Halwa from Multan every time he visited the city for work. For me, it is the ideal condiment with tea.

Muft Mashwara # 2: Warm the halwa in the microwave before making this sinful indulgence; its taste reaches record-breaking levels this way.

I was happy to know that Hafiz Sohan Halwa delivers the product throughout the country and now this gorgeous Multani sweet is just a few hundred rupees away, if you really want it authentic. You can place an order online here. Of course, it is also produced by various bakeries in Karachi and other cities but no where will you find Sohan Halwa to be more delicious than the one prepared by Multani producers!

In my bachpan, after the halwa was consumed, the tin box used to turn into the sooi dhagay ka dabba or dawaai ka dabba

For an interesting read on the history of Sohan Halwa, you can click here.

Kasuri Andrassay

These crispy, lightly sweetened, sesame seed covered, cardamom scented sweets are my mother’s favorite most desi sweet and perhaps for this reason, I have a special place for these in my heart. A hot cup of tea, an andrassa or two (or three or four) to hog on and a mindless episode of a Hum TV drama – I’d say that’s a nice way to relax and get your sugar level back to normal after the 15 plus hours of fasting.

It took me a lot of effort to find these in Karachi - and then realized I saw them at Burns Road on one of my trips there. On going back to the theyla, I learnt that they are called 'anarsay' in this part of the country, which explained why no baker understood what I was asking for. They are mostly a Punjabi thing and the best ones come from Kasur. By the way, this gulloos+andrassay theyla is open all night. So this is where you need to be if you want to do 'saari night besharmi ki height' with calories bros!

There they are, behind the deyg of the gulloos

The roti-shaped andrassas resemble meethi tikya a lot, but the former are made from rice flour while the latter from semolina. Didn’t really need that piece of information? Okay. Sorriez.

Almond Naan Khatai from Khalifa Bakers

Koi aur naan khatai nahin, sirf Khalifa ki naan khatai. Hands down, Khalifa Bakers located near Mochi Gate in the old part of Lahore are the best naan khatai producers in Pakistan. The khatais are soft, fluffy, sweet to just the right level and amazing in texture because of the whole almonds that come with every bite. Saath aik chai ka cup, aur rozay mein sahay gaye tammam dukh ghaaib. Like really.

A few years back, getting naan khatai from Khalifa Bakers in androon sheher used to be a mega task. Though I did enjoy my walk through the small historic streets and lanes of Lahore when I made a pilgrimage to the bakery myself. We parked our car at Mochi Darwaza, visited the Wazir Khan Mosque (heart) and then headed to Khalifa Bakers to see the stacks of naan khatais in their glory. Now, however, you can just make a call at 042-37657352, transfer money online and get a box of the amazing khatais delivered to any city in Pakistan within 24 hours. It's great service (saying that with personal experience) so I’d say do yourself a favour and get yourself a box. Now.

Muft Mashawara # 3: Dunk the khatais in tea for maximum pleasure. They taste better like this, like any other biscuit in the world!

Bee tee doubleyoo, an article on these crazy-good naan khatais has been published in the Forbes Magazine, which you can read here if you wish.

Parh ke maza aya? Ab khaa ke mazey lein. Happy Ramzan!

Until next, byeeezzz.

*This article was published in FUSHCIA Magazine as well as TGIF, Daily Times with changes

Note: All food photography has been done at home with my hubby, thanks to his photography skills! You can see more of his work here.