Peda : A Milk Sweet

What you need

Ricotta cheese: 15 oz/ 425 g ( I used original)

Milk: 1 cup (I used whole fat)

Sugar: ½ cup / 100 g

Ghee/clarified butter: 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon

Yellow food color: 4 drops (I used liquid one)

Cardamom crushed: 3 nos

Saffron: 10 stigmas

Pistachios: 15 no

How I made

In a small sauce pan heat milk to warm not boiling( if using microwave heat milk for 1 minutes and 5 seconds at high) and add saffron and set aside.

Heat a non stick pan and add 1 tablespoon Ghee/ clarified butter, when it starts melting add ricotta cheese and stir continuously. At first it become uniform mixture (around 4 minutes) then on further cooking it starts getting thick ball when all the water content in ricotta gets evaporated and it becomes khoya and a thick ball and starts leaving the sides of pan. It takes about 19 minutes in medium flame.

In the same pan add sugar and food color (if using) to the above khoya and again heat it. Mix well while sugar gets incorporated first and then it starts melting. To this add milk -saffron mixture and stir continuously for another 32 minutes, so that khoya- milk - sugar- saffron mixture gets thickened once again. Add cardamom and mix well just before you switch of flame.

When the above Khoya-milk-saffron-sugar mixture is warm enough touch, grease your palm with rest of ghee and make small balls first and slightly flatten in the middle and place pistachio while it is warm. If you want to make design in peda you are free to do so.

Enjoy as much you wish.