163. Deepa’s quick pedas

August 27, 2012mayurisjikoni
Blog post

Deepa your recipe with a slight change

A few days ago my cousin Tinu requested for a quick peda or penda making recipe. To be honest I always thought that making pedas was a laborious task till I started researching the net. Got to learn two important facts : 
1. Pedas are easy to make whether its the quick recipe or the normal way.
2. Many ready made pedas may contain besan (chickpea flour) or cornflour. They use that for the colour factor and to thicken the mixture quickly. So clearly we cannot have them when we are fasting.
Anyway, today being Ekadashi, I decided to try out the recipe for the quick method sent by my cousin Deepa. She made the pedas to take to Priya’s school and they turned out nice. They are like milk fudge and surprisingly don’t taste that sweet. Just right. While Deepa’s recipe is for the microwave oven, I made it on the stove. The ingredients are the same, cooking method is different. I will give you both the methods. Thank you Deepa. Thank you Tinu for the request ….. otherwise I don’t think I would have ever thought of making pedas at home. I added a bit of saffron to mine. I made them, so now its your turn Tinu. It doesn’t take more than 30 minutes,the whole procedure.


DEEPA’S QUICK PEDAS
About 40 pieces

2 cups (150g) instant dry milk powder
1 can (14 oz, 397g) condensed milk
½ cup ( 4oz, 113g) unsalted butter

  1. Take a microwave proof dish or bowl. Add the butter to it and melt it in the microwave oven.
  2. Add the condensed milk and milk powder. Mix. 
  3. Cook in the microwave oven for 3 minutes, mixing it well after every minute.
  4. After 3 minutes mix it well and let it cool just enough to handle it.
  5. Make round and flat balls.
  6. Decorate with coloured sugar, pistachios, almonds, raisins, cashews etc.
Since I do not have a microwave oven, I decided to use the same recipe but cooked it on a normal stove over medium heat and I used ghee instead of butter. I also used less ghee but you can use ½ cup of either. I used 2 tbsps of thick ghee instead of butter and added 1 tsp cardamom powder and ¼ tsp saffron.
  1. Put the ghee in a non stick pan and melt it over medium heat.
  2. Add the milk powder and condensed milk to it.
  3. Stir the mixture very well to remove any milk powder lumps.
  4. Stir the mixture constantly till it becomes thick and like a dough. This takes about 5 to 6 minutes.
  5. The wooden spoon or spatula you are using should be able to stand in the middle of the mixture without falling. 
  6. Add the cardamom powder and saffron. Mix well.
  7. Let it cool just enough so that it is easy to handle.
  8. Grease you hands with butter or ghee and take a teaspoonful of the mixture and roll it into a ball and flatten it a bit.
  9. I rolled it, flattened it slightly and made a small dent on top with my thumb.
  10. Put the rolled peda on a greased tray. Decorate the peda if you wish with the above mentioned nuts or sugar.I decorated mine with chopped pistachios.
  11. Within 30 minutes they will be ready to serve.
Tips :
  • It’s important that you do not let the mixture cool down too much. it becomes very difficult to roll the balls once the mixture becomes cool.
  • I waited for a minute of so and started using the dough from the top as it cools down faster than the inner one. The pedas that were rolled when the dough was still hot turned out smooth and the last few began to crack.
  • Can make bigger pedas if you like.
  • Most recipes if you search, will mention that you stir the mixture till it becomes thick.But as soon as you mix the condensed milk and milk powder it is thick. What they don’t mention is that you should cook it till it becomes dough  like consistency. I like the spoon test mentioned above. It works for most cooked indian sweets.
 

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