[1][2] Thousands of dedicated shops in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka sell nothing but sweets.

[8] Some sweets such as kheer and barfi are cooked, varieties like Mysore pak are roasted, some like jalebi are fried, others like kulfi are frozen, while still others involve a creative combination of preparation techniques.

Mithai are sometimes served with a meal, and often included as a form of greeting, celebration, religious offering, gift giving, parties, and hospitality in the Indian subcontinent.

On South Asian festivals – such as Holi, Diwali, and Raksha Bandhan – sweets are homemade or purchased, then shared.

This ancient encyclopedia on food, music and other Indian arts is also known as the Abhilaṣitārtha Cintāmaṇi (the magical stone that fulfils desires).

The document describes[18] meals that include a rice pudding called payasam (Sanskrit: पायसं), known as kheer in other South Asian languages.

[23][24][25] Adhirasam is a sweet similar to a doughnut originating from Tamil cuisine made from rice flour, jaggery, butter and pepper.

[26] Bal mithai is a brown chocolate-like fudge, made with roasted khoya, coated with white sugar balls, and is a popular sweet from Kumaon.

Chikki is a ready-to-eat solid, brittle sweet generally made from casting a mix of dry nuts and hot jaggery syrup.

[29] Chomchom is a traditional Bengali sweet, prepared from flattened paneer (a form of curdled milk solids, cheese) sweetened in syrup.

It is made by slowly cooking shredded carrots with ghee, concentrated and caramelized milk, mawa (khoya) and sugar; it is often served with a garnish of aromatic spices, almonds, cashews or pistachios.

Gajrela may be cooked without ghee and can include cottage cheese or other milk solids for a sophisticated mix of flavors.

It is made out of fried chenna (milk solids and cheese) balls soaked in sweet rose-water flavoured syrup.

[35] Jalebi and Imarti is made by deep-frying a fermented batter of wheat flour with yoghurt, in a circular (coil-like) shape and then soaking it in sugar syrup.

It is believed that, even 2000 years ago,[citation needed] Khaja was prepared in the southern side of the Gangetic Plains of Bihar.

Kheer is a pudding, usually made from milk, sugar and one of these ingredients: vermicelli, rice, bulgur wheat, semolina, tapioca, dried dates, or shredded white gourd.

It is made using flavored milk that is first condensed and caramelized by slow cooking along with a small quantity of rice or seasonal grain flour; once condensed, dry nut pastes and aromatic spices are added and the mix frozen in small earthen or metal cans.

It is also a street side summertime snack and festive sweet, which food hawkers carry around in a big earthen pot and play a particular horn music to attract customers.

It is made from roasted gram flour flakes which are sweetened, mixed with almonds, rolled into a batter and then cast into mini balls and fried in ghee.

The mini balls are combined with aromatic spices and then formed into bite-size spheres, which are called motichoor ka ladoo.

The final dish is a rolled pancake that is stuffed with a filling often made of coconut, milk, cream, and jaggery from the date palm.

It comes in many forms, such as Kamalabhog (orange rasgulla), Rajbhog (stuffed with dry fruits and khoya inside), Kadamba (often served with kheer), and Rasamundi, Raskadamba.

Some Rasgulla are stuffed inside with treats, such as dry fruits, raisins, candied peel, and other delicacies to create a variety of flavors.

Sel roti is a Nepali home-made circular-shaped bread or rice donut that is prepared during Tihar, a widely celebrated Hindu festival in Nepal and India (Sikkim and Darjeeling regions).

A semi liquid rice flour dough is usually prepared by adding together milk, water, sugar, butter, cardamom, cloves as well as other flavors based on personal choice.

Shrikhand is a traditional Gujarati and Marathi dessert made from strained yogurt, sugar, saffron, and cardamom.

Soan papdi is a predominantly sugar based sweet that is pulled to create thin strands resembling cotton candy.