Wish you all a very happy republic day.
“Ohh..today is April 10th, so your exam results must be out. Did you pass? Where are the pedas?” this was a general question for us when we were in primary schools (1st to 7th standard/grade is called primary school in India, I have no idea what it is called in other countries). It was a kind of tradition for us to distribute pedas among neighbors/relatives when we got the results. Not any pedas, it had to be home made smooth, delicious milk pedas. I specifically remember this because I would actually pester aayi to make pedas for me, so that I could give to my favorite neighbors.
Thats not the only occasion when these pedas made their appearance. They were an integral part of any happy occasion for us. Got engaged? distribute pedas. Gave birth to a baby? distribute pedas. There were hundreds of such occasions on which these beauties would make an appearance.
I never understood whats the deal with happiness and pedas. I guess it all started from the fact that milk and sugar are the basic components found in any Indian home. I remember aayi would make them in big bulk. They were always the beautiful creamy color and had melt-in-the-mouth-delicious taste.
So, recently when I was talking to aayi, she reminded me about these pedas. I got all excited about it. Even though she told me to use khoya/khova to make my life easy, I disagreed. I said, I will atleast make it once from scratch. She said it has to be made on a very low heat and takes a very long time.
When she said long time, I thought may be she is talking about 1hr or so, and I thought I can handle it easily. So I started making the pedas on one beautiful evening. I started with 4 cups of milk. I kept it on a medium heat and once in a while gave it good stir. As usual, I was multitasking – doing a thousand things with this. After 1 hr, the milk looked almost the same volume (it must have reduced about 1/2 inch or so, but not at all noticeable at that time). After 2 hrs, it had reduced a bit and the color had started turning slightly red. I knew something went wrong there because aayi’s pedas never had a red color. Along with reducing milk, my patience was also reducing. After 2 and 1/2 hrs, I added sugar and kept on mixing. It still didn’t have any signs of becoming hard. I knew that it had to be cooked till some white edges show up. I stirred and stirred and stirred till it got almost dry. Then I decided its time to take it off the heat. I took it on a plate and tried giving them nice shape. By then, they had already become hard and so red that I was sure if I heated them more, they would completely burn. V, who was looking at me, said, I should make it like pedas and not small balls. (May be it was his lucky day, I didn’t throw a fit at him for saying that).
After that incident I swore that it was my first and last attempt at making pedas. I promptly declared to aayi that she had given me a wrong recipe and how could she do that. I also told her that I have joined “I hate peda” group. Poor aayi, I never imagined she would have felt bad about it. For next two weeks, everyday when I talked to her, she told me how sad she was for all my effort at making pedas didn’t bear fruit. I didn’t take it seriously for 2-3days, but then it got into my little brain that she was infact really sad about it. Not because I wasted 4 cups of milk or because of my oath of not trying it again, but because she knew how much difficult it was to make them and she thought I must be really upset about it. So I assured her that I will try it again some time and this time no matter what, I will make sure it comes out right. She gave me few more tips this time. She said if I want to get them light in color, I should continuously stir the milk and also should make it on a real low heat.
So last week, on a Saturday morning, when we had lost internet and TV connection and having a heavy snowfall, I decided to make this again (well, I needed something to kill the time). I started at 8 AM. This time I kept the heat on medium-low. I kept a continuous watch on it. For the first hour, I stirred the milk once in every 3-5 mins. Then I started mixing continuously. After 15mins, I was exhausted, so pulled a chair near the stove. That didn’t work out very well, because the stove level is higher than the chair, so I had keep my hand in raised position.
Then like a lightening it flashed… ‘Aayi sits on the kitchen counter(or platform as we called it) to make it easier. Grandma used to keep her stove on the flour and sit with her legs stretched’. Ahh..that was the best position, with your hands at a higher level than the stove. There is no way I could take the stove out from the cabinet, so I followed aayi’s method. That was so cool. Next 3 hrs, I didn’t budge from that position. I even refused to take any calls from India(usually Saturdays we call friends or family). V promptly told them all that I was not going to talk to any of them that day. (well, he must be very happy to enjoy 3-4 hrs of silence at home. After about 2 hrs I realized he was totally immersed in his favorite hobby of browsing without a constant nagging from me, he had not even told me internet connection was back. Anyway…). I got so bored, so I took my laptop in left hand, while continuously stirring the milk with right (V was pretty sure I would either burn the laptop or break it into pieces that day). Well..I have bored you all enough..it was a happy ending story – I had made perfect beautiful pedas :). I was ecstatic, never been so happy for any other dish. Don’t call me crazy if I say I had made 15 pedas in the end. Not very tempting considering it took 4 hrs of hard work and 4 cups of milk. But V was more than happy, he got 4 hrs of lonely time with his laptop, he got to see a break dance(??) after the success and also got to eat delicious pedas.
Moral of the story – “Sabar ka phal meetha hota hai” – The fruit of patience is always sweet. Attempt this only when you have a very high patience. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest patience you have, the amount of patience required for this is about 15.
Be ready to throw it out if it goes wrong, it only comes right with trial and error. If you are angry on someone and you think few hours of silence will calm you down, attempt this :). Do not blame me if you don’t get it right, there is nothing wrong with the recipe, when you remove it from the flame – is the decision maker. If you remove it little early, it does not get hard enough. In that case, you can heat it again and try to give it a shape again. If you take it too late, it becomes hard like rock, so to be safe, better to take it early.
All jokes apart, if you want to make your life easier, use khoya/khova to make this. I think condensed milk also should work fine in this. You can make it little by little, cook the milk for about an hour. Then refrigerate and continue next day, aayi takes sufficient breaks like this to make it easier.
There are other modern ways of doing it – like microwave pedas. I haven’t tried any of these.
Hats off to aayi who would make them very frequently and in very big batches. I am not sure I would reach there any time. As I said, making them in this color is not a small thing and her pedas always had this color.
In the pictures, you can see some cracks on the pedas. Thats the next thing I will work on. I should have taken it out a tad bit early.
Ingredients:
Milk pedas (Doodh peda)
Ingredients
- 4 cups milk
- 1 cup sugar
- Cardamom powder
- Ghee
Instructions
- Heat the milk on a medium low heat stirring continuously. (First hour, stir it only once in about 3-5mins but after 1st hr you need to stir continuously).
- When the milk is reduced to one cup (measure it after approximately 3hrs) to see if it is 1 cup.
- Then add the sugar. Keep mixing.
- When it starts leaving edges and looks quite dry, add the cardamom powder.
- Take it out on a plate greased with ghee.
- Let it cool to room temperature.
- Make the pedas.
PS: Use whole milk for a better result.
Use thick bottomed pans for reducing milk, since milk sticks to bottom very easily. A wide bottomed pan saves a lot of time.
If you have a large quantity of milk, you can keep the heat on medium initially for about hour or so and keep stirring frequently.
Some people add some dry fruits or saffron/food color to give extra flavor/color to it. I prefer the pure one, so I haven’t used any.
Such a wonderful recipe. God! I love it. Awesome. Looks really very good.
Your story was as sweet as the peda themselves…I know what you mean by hubbies getting their laptop time…I make sure i make mine feel guilty whenever he hangs around with the laptop at home hahahaa, so if i ever get into the process of making pedas over 4 hours on the weekend, that will be nirvana for S hahahhaaa, could really relate to what you’ve written…
Staying so far away from home makes people do things the hard way, trying out stuff from scratch like baking pav and making pedas, when we here just make a phone call to our nearest sweet shop to order the stuff in…Hats off to your effort dear girl and your perseverance…you have beautiful looking pedas in the end.
oh my! u’ve real patience Shilpa! 4 hrs for 1 dish, cannot begin to think how u did it 😉
they hv turned out sooo good!
What a lovely write-up Shilpa. Am actually imagining you with the laptop in one hand and stirring with the other hand and can’t stop smiling here :)..Will try this recipe when I have a patience of 15, hahaha. Jokes aside, the pedha look just great and all worth the effort you put it. Btw, you get up at what time on a saturday ??? Am shocked to see you started this job at 8am …Shame on me 😉
Wow….Hats off to you. I cant believe you sat for 4 hours to make them. Multitasking does not work always right ? Now whenever V wants to be alone for sometime, he is going to ask you to make the lovely Doodh Pedas. BE CAREFUL !!!
I miss those lovely pedas from Belgaum and Hubli. Hey you must have relished on the pedas in Belgaum right, during your engg days? There are a couple of shops selling them in Mumbai, but nowhere close to the Belgaum and Hubli onces.
You would not believe, i saw your post a few hours back. Felt as if they are directly coming out from the picture. Since i did not have the patience to make them now, i satisfied my craving with BASUNDI.
Nandita you rightly said “Staying so far away from home makes people do things the hard way” Miss my country.
HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY
What a delightful story ! and it even has a happy ending! 🙂
growing up in Mumbai I know exactly the significance of pedas and have come to associate pedas with happiness – my face always lights up when I see them. I remember when my brother was studying engg in Warana, Kolhapur he would come back with the most delicious pedas!!
Thanks for posting these, I doubt if I will ever try this long method, but it sure is nice to look at those lovely rounds of heaven!
Shilpa..you rock..4 hrs!!! The pedas look like they r home sick(i mean they need my home 😀 ) Toooooo good Shilpa! I too agree on Hubby being delighted to b together with their love- to sneak into a no-nag zone, browsing for hrs to glory! …tch tch… but those pedhas u dished out are toooooo good(though unrelated here, reminded me of the brown kundapur pedhas!) I confer the title of ‘Slog for Perfection’ rightfully upon U!! 😀 HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY TO U TOO!!
Shilpa,
I hope I have conveyed so far that I admire you so much for your dedication to recipes and attention to detail. You have preserved and even rejuvenated some forgotten authentic recipes. But making peda at home, stirring for 4 hours, and that too when you were not happy with the results first time? I will never ever be able to do it. Shilpa, you are simply amazing. I really do not have words to describe.
Hats off to you and your aayi both. I have never ever eaten homemade pedas with 4 hrs stirring time. I have made pedas with microwave – a recipe that friend gave after coming to US. and I was quite thrilled to make pedas at home. but your homemade pedas come in a different league – today whole day, I am going to think about your marvel. You are simply amazing!!
Happy Republic Day!!
Hey Shilpa, Happy Republic Day to u ..:) The Pedas looks so yummy.. I remember having this for all occassions back home.. Thanks for the recipe.. atleast now I can give it a try!
~ Siri
I can actually see the glow on ur face , after getting it right , through those pedas in the pic 🙂 That was a touching narration with a dash of humour here and there 🙂
Shn
😀 I can imagine you sitting next to the stove with a laptop in one hand, and stirring with the other hand…
If I have to be next to the stove for more than 30 minutes, I put our bar chair next to the stove, it is tall enough so I won’t hurt my hands, and have the TV on… I have a tiny TV in the kitchen just for this… 😀 But even with that, I can’t imagine four hours, that too stirring constantly… Deep bow to you Shilpa… 🙂 those pedas look perfect!
Hi Shilpa
Hats off to ur patience…the pics look amazing…I am not sure if I wil make thm or not but the nxt time I go to a sweet shop I am gonna buy thm 4 sure:)
Looks like a lot of work, but well worth the effort:) the pedas look awesome!!
Made pedas today for my grandchildren. Here in Canada recently with my son’s family, I was wondering how to celebrate Republic Day , good that I visited your website
I appreciate and admire your eagerness to learn so many things. All the best to acheive more as you go.
Nice pedas.I have seen the brown dharwad peda in bakeries in India and also white dhoodh pedas..never this colour.
Well you must really love sweets or is your blog your motivation.It’s difficlt to imagine spending so much time & effort and then ending up with only few pedas :(But pedas look amazing…melt-in-the mouth kind..Thank god my hubby doesn’t like sweets a lot..what if he asks me to make these…scary…
looks fabulous, will try and let u know.
i hv one technical doubt, if u solve, it would be great, as u know food blog desam is not working, and i was regular visitor that site, now i can’t track on day to day basis what’s cooking websites, manually i can;t check so many website too, pls tell me is there anyway i can check like food blog desam.
i read some where that if you subscribe RSS feed u will get information, how many Maximum feed i can subscribe, and is i have to visit each website and subscribe manually or is there any way that i can subscribe to all website which i like at one time.
Shilpa: Jyothi, please read Sailu’s Taste of India. It replaced FBD.
Dear Shilpa,
Very nice write-up. I remembered my father’s sister. she used to make such pedas and posu. After her death I have never tasted such pedas. I have stopped eating the pedas now as the pedas available in the hotels are not good. You made me nostalgic by preparing such pedas.
Does adding milk powder to milk anyway speed up the process?
-Regards,
Sabitha
Shilpa: I don’t know Sabitha :(. I really like the traditional pedas, so I made these. Have to try with milk powder next time. You may try with condensed milk or better yet, directly with khova.
Dear Shilpa, you are one patient lady…4 hrs??…I can imagine your ecstacy on the success of your labour (am thinking about the break dance :-))…those pedas look fantastic!
The pedas look perfect, Shilpa. I might make them one day when I have 3 hrs to kill (and the patience). With khoya it will end up being like barfi – so hard work pays. Enjoy the fruit of your labour.
yes sabr ka phal meetha hota hai and you do have a lot of sabr. hats off to you Shipa. you have great looking pedas. perfect color !
Dear Shilpa,
Really awesome.
love the pedas
love your dedication
Shilpa ,you are sharing recipe,your thoughts but why cant we share your delicious pedas?
vineela
Shilpa: Haha..I can share it Vineela. Gimme your address and I will post it 😉
thanks a lot for provide sillu taste of india link, i am really happy that i got this link, thanks
wow.. mouth watering peda.. looks so nice.. Feel like having it.. !! I love peda.. but miss it a lot here.. shall try this !! thank you
Dear Shilpa…….I am just drooling at the photo……so mouth-watering & pure….iI want to eat one right now! Thanks for sharing.
Wow, oh, wow! You must really have infinite patience. I guess hard work pays off because they look phenomenal!
Oh YUM!!!! I love Pedhas! and yes, every occasion to celebrate, pedha se mooh meetha karo!!!
Even as prasad in temples they hv pedhas!! Its been sooooooooooo long since i had any!!! Why don’t u stay near me :((
Shilpa: Hehe..I wish I could stay near your place too Manasi. I am so bored here 🙁
beautiful. i’ve seen recipes with milk powder and one instant version too. this needs a lot of patience 😀
These look perfect like the ones i get here from nandini…but 3 to 4 hrs to make them !!! i get very impatient in the kitchen…hats off to u
shilpa…nice post…n’ the pedas look really yummmmm!
I do visit ur site very often n’ try ur recipes. Hey why don’t u put a face to ur name?….ur readers wud definitely like to c who U R…wht say?
Hi Shilpa,
I appreciate your patience in making these wonderful pedas.
I have only one question, Can I use evaporated milk to make these??
Thanks.
Shilpa: Yes Raji, you can use it. That will save a lot of time.
you really take cooking very seriously….its nothing less than an achievement to make these pedhas from milk….i can only say wowwwwwwwww…!!!
These pedas look beautiful! they are just perfect…. I appreciate your patience!!
Wow, Shilpa…hats off to your patience…
They really look yummy.
I know what you mean about pedhas being the quintessential sweets to distibute after your exam results!!!
“Pedhe kuthe?” used to be the oft-heard sentence, growing up in Mumbai.
Do u have the recipe for Kundapur pedhas..these are golden brown in colour..These were my favourite pedhas..
Now, if only I could taste some of your pedhas !!!
I am very impressed of this recipe and nice snap. Awesome.
I really enjoyed reading that! Yes, long reductions take a big chunk of time and there is no way to rush it, but it sure is worth it eh? They look gorgeous! I also sit on the countertop to do this, and that is when I start thinking that I should have a fire-fueled small stove for outdoors that I could sit in front of. But, the counter isn’t such a bad place to be during winter! Love that last pic.
Thanks for the wonderful Pedas. They were yummy. Got over yesterday at the Super Bowl Party. Not to mention, it was a “TOUCH DOWN”
Hi there,
Indian woman from Sydney, Australia,would love to know more about our Indian sweets, including pedas….more intrinsic recipes? 🙂 Thank you
It is perfect i loved it and i think my brother is gonna love it too because he really crazy about peda
Thanks.
Hi again but i don’t know who much cardamom powder to use.If you could answer me that would be grateful.
Thanks
Shilpa: Add according to individual preference. I normally add about 1/2 tea spn for above quantity.
hello shilpa,
i am regular visitor of your site and have tried some receipes here. one day, i did the peda in the same way you suggested above.
the pedas tasted great, but they were sticky, getting stuck to the teeth while eating.
can u tell me where might i have been wrong?
thanks with regards,
monal
I tried your recipe. The pedas turned out to be delicious. Thanks.
Hi tx for ur receipe i wish it works i will try sometime on weekend….i will let u know once itz done did i succed or not
takecare
vinod
Hi Shilpa:
What a marathon effort. Hats off to you for trying and recording this recipe. Love pedas. Love your story.
Love your website
Try a crockpot to reduce your milk next time. You will still need time but you can just stir once an hour or every half hour and watch…will try it out and get back to you.
Hi,
You post really yummy recipes… can u please give me dharwad peda recipe if u have… am really missing those yummy pedas here in US :(…
Regards,
Nandini
just wonderful
By mistake I picked up 2 packs of mawa instead of paneer….dont want the mawa to go waste…could u suggest any recipes where mawa can be used….thanks
Delicious perfect pedas..! Enjoyed ur friutful trials and write out..! do check my site. Will try making in stove and let you know..!
That was so “SWEET” and “YUMMY”! Thankyou for the recipe
this recipe??????????? Appr. 4 hours……Cant even think to start… i better go for microwave receipe……
Hey, thanks for the recipe, did try it out, took ages but atleast the inlaws loved them…lol only problem was they got a tad bit hard….do u think if i put a bit of ghee or butter it would help softening them?? would be glad to get a reply from u.thanks.
Once they are done, you cannot soften them.
what about pedas with milk maid
hi…i had made trail .. its was good and delicious…my brother pratap surprised and he eat all …thank u
Loved your recipe and Nice story too. Thanks a ton for the recipe. I will try it tomorrow. I love making stuff from scratch.
any option to reduce a making time..
Use readymade khova
Boy I made this recipe for the forth time yesterday and finally got my hang on it. Felt sooooooo good 😀
First I also thought maybe these pedas are just not my thing but then the urge to see the outcome made me give them and myself a shot, once again, annnnnnnd it worked, yay! So much thank you.
Actually not many recipes on the net use full fat milk, but this one truly works. I wrapped them in yellow transparent candy sheet and will upload on my blog soon, God willing.
Happy cooking!
I have posted your recipe on my blog here http://thechefinme.com/?p=771
thanks again
Hi Shilpa,
I just tried the recipe out. I have not rolled them into pedas as yet, but when I taste them, they are a little chewy/gummy. Any idea what the reason could be?
I think once they cool down, they should get fine
Hi Shilpa,
Thank you for the recipe. I love pedas but I’ve never made them at home. My grandma use to make them just like you’ve described but in a huge cast-iron pan.
Have you tried getting it started in a crockpot? I’m going to give it a shot and see how it goes. I always make kheer in my crockpot and its a huge time-saver, plus the milk never burns in the crockpot. I grease the crockpot first with a little butter/ghee and then pour milk and cover the lid in a thick kitchen towel so the moisture can be absorbed by the kitchen towel. I usually start it on high while I’m still cooking dinner so I can stir it once every hour or so then set it to low before I go to bed. It takes several hours for the kheer to thicken but at the end of it, it tastes just like you toiled and sweated over the stove for hours.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Dear Shilpa,
First things first your writing is superb. Actually if we just had a recipe we wont do it.
But with your present-nostalgic-truthful experience this recipe (story) I will do it. I just had some pedas from a bakery. They where not pure so i searched for a recipe. Your came first It is extremely good.
Thankyou for this story.
Wow…… this recipe sounds simple and easy to follow!
I’m gonna try making this for my birthday next week!
I just wish we didn’t have to use 4cups of milk (coz milk is really expensive over here)
i like this story and recipe it is very easy to make this and also i like cooking a lot sweets are my favorite i made this like cake for my birthday thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Next time you make Doodh Pedas,condense the milk in a non stick pan on low heat.You dont have to stir it all the time and it doesnt stick to the pan.(I do it whilst cooking regular food side by side on other burners.)You can keep the Khoya formed after condensing aside till you get spare time to add sugar mix well by kneeding, reheat the mixture stiring well this time till it starts leaving the sides of the pan.Let it cool a bit and then make pedas.
mouthwatering pedas… I want to make some for this diwali how do i go abt doimg it if i add khoya????
Just heat the khova, add sugar and follow remaining recipe
Great explanation. I did try it and it came out well. Thanks for allthose minute details
Your story and writeup was much sweeter than the milk peda Shilpa. Its my first time on a Konkan foodie website. I am happy that I have got a lot a variants to test. Thanks a lot for your collection Shilpa.
Don’t forget to check out our variant of milk peda also and drop your suggestions.
Hi, thanks for the wonderful recipe. I have made these Pedas today and It turned out very delicious.
But I could not made in round shape. I have greased my hand with ghee and made it round but when I took out from the plate it lost shape. So want to know what’s gone wrong.
Could you please tell me when should we have to take it off from heat..any check point ??
Swati, this is a kind of sweet that comes only by trial and error. I don’t think there is a fool proof checkpoint. Just make sure it looks quite dried at the sides before taking off heat.
Hello,
If I use evaporated carnation milk, please tell me how many cans (380 ml) of that and how many cups sugar (I prefer brown) I need to make about 40 pedas. Also, do I still need to put the sugar in after 3 hrs, or at the same time? Also, what amount of cardamom?
Tks. Marie
Hi Shilpa,
I am still waiting for your reply to questions. I have to make the pedas for June 1st 2016.
Kindly reply soon.
Tks. Marie
Sorry, never tried it with carnation milk, so no idea. I think it should take less time