Khoa

Milk reduced to a fifth of its volume in a shallow pan, which is what most Indian sweets are made of.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

• 2.5 litres whole milk, or buffalo milk

Method

1. THE MILK IS REDUCED TO A FIFTH OF ITS VOLUME IN A SHALLOW PAN, and both halves of that matter. Its article is specific about the figure -- A CONCENTRATION OF MILK TO ONE-FIFTH VOLUME IS NORMAL IN THE PRODUCTION OF KHOA -- and about the vessel: khoa is made by SIMMERING FULL-FAT MILK IN A LARGE, SHALLOW IRON PAN FOR SEVERAL HOURS OVER A MEDIUM FIRE. Two and a half litres becomes about five hundred millilitres of paste. A deep pan will get there eventually and taste stewed; a shallow one works by surface area, which is the point.
2. IT IS NOT A CHEESE SET WITH ANYTHING, WHICH SEPARATES IT FROM CHHENA AND PANEER. Its article says khoa is made FROM WHOLE MILK INSTEAD OF WHEY and is LOWER IN MOISTURE THAN TYPICAL FRESH CHEESES SUCH AS RICOTTA. Nothing curdles it. THE GRADUAL EVAPORATION OF ITS WATER CONTENT LEAVES ONLY THE MILK SOLIDS, and that is all that happens.
3. USE THE WIDEST PAN YOU OWN AND DO NOT COVER IT. A sauté pan or a wok beats a saucepan. Two and a half litres in a 30 cm pan sits about four centimetres deep at the start, which is right.
4. KEEP IT AT A LAZY SIMMER, NOT A BOIL. The article's warning is about scorching, and it gives an ideal temperature for avoiding it. A boil throws milk up the sides where it burns and drops back in brown.
5. SCRAPE THE SIDES AND THE BASE EVERY FEW MINUTES, WITH A FLAT WOODEN SPATULA. The skin that forms on the surface is stirred back in, not lifted off. This is the whole labour of it: an hour of inattention gives you scorched milk and nothing else.
6. AT ABOUT HALF VOLUME IT GOES FROM MILK TO SOMETHING THICKER AND NEEDS WATCHING CONSTANTLY. The last twenty minutes decide it. Lower the heat as it thickens.
7. STOP AT THE GRADE YOU WANT, AND ITS ARTICLE NAMES THEM. CHIKNA -- slippery or squishy -- khoa HAS 50 PER CENT MOISTURE and is what you want for a sweet that stays soft. The drier PINDI grade holds a shape and grates. Stop earlier for one, later for the other.
8. COOL IT IN THE PAN, THEN LIFT IT OUT IN ONE PIECE. It keeps a week covered in the fridge, and every sweet below that calls for khoa means this.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes