You can have cakes, cupcakes or any kind of dessert at your wedding but an Indian wedding is simply not complete without mittai. Indian sweets are a critical component of any Indian celebration, especially a wedding! There are so many sweet Indian treats to choose from – ladoo, barfi, halva, Balushahi, cham cham, gajar ka halwa, garhi, gulab jaman, jalebi, shahi tukra, shrikhand just to name a few! The names may be hard to roll of your tongue but the tastes will satiate every sugar lover and have your mouth yearning for more!
The most popular wedding mittai is the ladoo. This sweet treat is often prepared during festivals and weddings. Ladoos come in a gajillion varieties! There commonality is that it is prepared with some type of flour and look like little balls of heaven. Why ladoos are associated with weddings is something this New Indian Bride was not able to figure out. My guess is serving ladoos in large quantities is an expensive and time consuming so it could only historically make its appearance on special occasions. Its beautiful orange color also makes it appear festive and auspicious.
For our wedding, eighty pounds of mittai came straight from Punjab. That’s right, we flew in our mittai (or rather it hitched a ride in my Masi’s suitcases). It not only worked out cheaper that way but the tastes were exquisite and authentic!
