Peda

Khoa cooked on until it browns, then pressed into thick semi-soft balls.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee), dairy (khoa).

Ingredients

• 500 g khoa
• 150 g granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds, crushed
• 1 tablespoon ghee
• 20 pistachio halves, to press on

Method

1. IT IS COOKED ON UNTIL IT TURNS BROWN, AND SHAPED INTO THICK SEMI-SOFT BALLS. That is the difference between this and a barfi made of the same two things. Its article gives the colour as a property of the sweet -- IT IS BROWN IN COLOUR -- and the form as PREPARED AS THICK, SEMI-SOFT ROUND BALLS, with MAIN INGREDIENTS KHOA, SUGAR AND FLAVOURINGS INCLUDING CARDAMOM SEEDS. A barfi stops pale and gets cut; this one keeps going until the milk sugars colour, and then gets rolled.
2. WHICH MEANS THE HEAT IS LOWER AND THE TIME IS LONGER. Twenty minutes rather than ten, over the lowest flame that keeps it moving, stirring the whole time. The colour comes from the milk, not from added sugar catching, so it should arrive slowly and evenly.
3. SUGAR IN EARLY, WITH THE KHOA. Unlike a fudge you want to keep pale, here the sugar is part of what browns.
4. CARDAMOM SEEDS CRUSHED, NOT GROUND POWDER. The article says cardamom SEEDS. Crushed coarsely they give the small bursts a peda has and a powder does not.
5. THE MIXTURE IS READY WHEN IT COMES AWAY AS ONE LUMP. Its own etymology is the test: the article traces peda to the Sanskrit PINDA, A LUMP OF FOOD, and quotes Bhojanakutuhala of the 17th century describing the sweet made FROM MILK AND SUGAR WITH SPICES LIKE CARDAMOM, CLOVES AND PEPPER.
6. COOL IT TO HAND-WARM BEFORE SHAPING. Hot, it sticks and slumps; cold, it crumbles. Ten minutes in the pan off the heat is about right.
7. ROLL TWENTY BALLS AND FLATTEN EACH ONE BETWEEN YOUR PALMS. Thick, not thin -- the article's word is thick, and a peda flattened like a biscuit dries out by morning. Press a pistachio half into each.
8. THEY FIRM UP AS THEY SIT AND KEEP WELL, which its article notes as a property: pedas have a higher shelf life than most milk sweets. Semi-soft the next day is correct.

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