Monday 12 December 2011

Ambala Indian Sweet Centre

In many ways I'm not very good at being a Bengali. I don't merrily chomp through fish heads, and there is no Rabindra Sangeet on my ipod. However there is one way in which I am very Bengali, and that is my love of mishti, Indian sweets or mithai.

As a child I baulked at my mum's thin, yellow macher jhol fish curry and fried bitter gourd uchay bhaja, but was happy to scoff down homemade syrupy sweet gulab jam or roshogolla. It's actually quite unusual for Bengalis to make many sweets at home, as back in Calcutta pretty much every neighbourhood has its own local sweet shop for all your mishti needs. Unfortunately an equivalent was very much lacking in the Cambridge of the 70's and 80's, so I was dependent on my mum's skills in this area and the occasional trip to the Ambala Sweet Centre in London for my fix. There are many branches of Ambala across London now, but the original shop is on Drummond Street. This is dangerously close to King's Cross Station, and I have to restrain myself from visiting on every single trip to London. Amabala is not a Bengali shop, but I'm not parochial in my mishti enjoyment, so anywhere selling jelebis, burfis and ladoos is fine by me.

Here's what I picked up on my most recent trip:

Ladoos! Probably my favourite Indian sweet, ladoos are made from fried gram flour soaked in syrup. The chickpea at its finest in my opinion.

Burfi! In this case chocolate and pistachio. The chocolate ones are a bit of a Western innovation, which involves pouring a thin layer of chocolate over a plain burfi. My sort of fusion cooking.

Indian sweets do have a reputation for being almost painfully sweet, and indeed some are. But there also some beautiful flavours of cardamom, cashew and pistachio, the richness of milk and cream, and textures that range from crumbly or softly spongy, to crispy. So as a change from the mince pies and chocolate yule logs that I might be consuming in the forthcoming festive season, I may well have a ladoo too. And with Christmas in mind, a selection of Indian sweets would make a top gift (nb they freeze very well, so you don't actually have to eat them all immediately).

Ambala also sell a range of savoury food, (I've written about their samosas before). And if you can't get to one of their many shops you can also order online (though not the samosas sadly).

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Am lingering with intent on their website.

I was at Kings Cross on Sunday, HOW did I forget? I always forget. I really want a ladoo now.

TheFastestIndian said...

It's probably good that I don't go to London more often- I always get a bit carried away in the Ambala shop! Those ladoos are flipping good though!

Kavey said...

We have a family-owned sweet shop called Mahavir near us, and on Fridays and Saturdays they make hot fresh jalebis which are just heavenly. The rest of their mithai is great too!!!

TheFastestIndian said...

Aww, you are well lucky Kavey! Cam lacks quite a few things and one of them is a proper Indian sweet shop with fresh mithai!

meemalee said...

Oh, I've seen this place (husband works nearby) but never dropped in. He'd love the samosas, I'd love the choc burfi!

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Well, I know where I'm heading next time I'm anywhere near Kings X. Thanks for the heads-up :)

MasalaChai1 said...

Welcome Blog Post. Credit to Ambala overdue for many a years. I am sure that Royal Sweets were the first ones to bring fourth these delicacies from the sub continent - on Drummond St. I love those sweet yellow dumplings (Ambala Cham-Chams) personally. You have to try the sugary Moti Chor Laddus at the punjabi sweet houses (Best ones up in Soho Road, Birmingham) - absolutely delicious!

TheFastestIndian said...

@Meems Yeah, his and hers offerings from Ambala!

@aforkful It's definitely one of a limited number of reasons to head up the Euston Road!

@MasalaChai1 Thanks for the comment. Good point, I really should pop into the Royal shop too. And definitely keen to try some more ladoos!

Delightofindia said...

Very nice blog. Great focus on Indian sweet and snacks industry. India is one of the most excellent country which provides extraordinary varieties of sweets and every time sweets are prepared by using inspired ideas and innovative techniques. Tirunelveli Halwa became more popular among Indian peoples. It’s really appetizing sweet. I appreciate for this huge writing. Content is really informative Sweet and Snacks advertising research……. For more information please visit buy Indian sweets

Ankita Singh said...

Amazing description, & thanks for sharing such wonderful informations with us, Thanks for sharing these wonderful images.Your Blog all Post information is very unique and good. I really loved reading your blog. Superb and Interesting post. Thank you for share beautiful and wonderful pictures. Thanks for the effective information. If you have any requirements for Taxi Services in India then you can book through our website.

Cartloot said...

Thank you for sharing this content, I was looking for the similar content related to Sweets. Got some good ideas. . sweets online
Get more details about sweets here indian sweets online

Website Development in Tamilnadu said...

Tasty Sweet!!!

Organic Cardamom

Anaya said...

I would like to say that this blog really convinced me to do it! Thanks, very good post. Indian snacks online