It’s hard to find people who don’t like the taste of Indian sweets. One sweet that people in Southern India are particularly fond of is Ariselu. Ariselu is usually made for festivals and other special occasions.  To make Ariselu, soak some rice overnight, then air dry them. When they dry, grind the rice into a fine powder flour. Then in a separate pan take some jaggery and heat it with water until the jaggery becomes syrupy. Then mix the rice powder into the jaggery and add some ghee or butter. Stir the mixture until it becomes a dough consistency. Then take the dough and make flat round pieces. Sprinkle the pieces with sesame seeds and fry them under low heat.

Chhena poda is especially popular in the Indian state of Odisha. Chhena poda is made by mixing cottage cheese, sooji and water in a container. Sooji is a type of flour used in Indian sweets. Stir the cottage cheese and sooji batter. Then add some cashew nuts, raisins, sugar and cardamoms into the mixture. If you’d like you can also add some cinnamon or vanilla extract to fragrance it. Grease a pan with some butter or ghee and place the batter in the pan. Bake the batter in the stove until the batter becomes a soft bread-like consistency. Then wait for the bread to cool down. When cooled, cut the bread into squares. That’s all there is to it. It’s now ready to be served!

Chikki is a nut and jaggery snack. You can use whatever nut you like, even peanuts. First you’ll have to roast the nuts under low heat. When the nuts become medium soft, you can turn off the heat and crush the nuts is a separate bowl. In a separate pan, take some ghee and jaggery and mix them together under low heat. If you don’t have jaggery you can use sugar instead. Add the nuts to the ghee and jaggery mixture. While the mixture is still hot, spread the mixture over a flat surface covered with tin foil. Make sure the tin foil is greased. Before the mixture cools down and hardens, cut the mixture into squares. Chikki can harden very quickly, so eat them while they are hot!

Kaju katli is a rhombus shaped snack covered with edible foil called varakh. To make this snack, ground some cashews into a powder form. Then take some jaggery or sugar and add water to the jaggery or sugar. Stir the jaggery or sugar until it becomes a syrupy. Next, add the cashew powder to the mixture. When the mixture becomes smooth, turn off the heat and place the mixture over a flat surface or clean countertop. After it cools, roll the mixture with a rolling pin. Then cut the mixture into rhombus shapes and add the edible foil to decorate it. When you’re done, you’ll have shiny rhombus shaped pieces of kaju katli. The foil has no adverse taste and is not harmful to the body, so enjoy!