Doodh Peda- Cheat Version

Diwali, the festival of lights, is a much loved festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains throughout the world. The festival ushers in a period of merriment – a time to revel in the company of loved ones, dress up in finery and gorge on delicious dishes prepared for the event.  As lamps and fireworks illuminate different corners of the globe tonight, I pray that the light brightens up not only your homes but also your hearts.

As a kid, this was my favorite time of the year. Eid and Diwali followed by Christmas and then New Year – a two-three month long party for a child desperate for reasons to celebrate. This diwali I wanted to make an easy and simple desert with just few ingredients and not spend hours in the kitchen and miss spending time with my dear ones. So made these delicious pedas, that are very popular and considered as an auspicious sweet, that can be offered as prasadum in many temples.

Traditional peda is made from sugar and khoa or khoya. Khoya is prepared by drying out milk in an open iron pan by heating the milk. The dry milk solids are then combined with different flavoring agent like cardamom, saffron etc. It give distinct flavor to peda. This is a cheat version and doesn’t take too long to make. So go ahead and make some for your family and have a fantastic diwali!!

Ingredients:-

Milk Powder:- 3/4 cup
Condensed Milk:- Half tin
Cardamom Powder:- 1/2 tsp
Butter/Ghee:- 2 tsp
Pistachios/Almonds crushed as desired. (Optional)

Method:-

In a non stick pan/heavy bottomed pan, melt butter or ghee. Add condensed milk, milk powder and mix well making sure that there are no lumps and cook on low heat stirring continuously.

Add cardamom powder, crushed nuts of choice and remove from heat. I usually blend the nuts and cardamom together into a powder. Yo can skip nuts and add just the cardamom powder as well. Keep stirring for a few seconds off heat. Transfer the mixture to a plate to prevent it from cooking further in the heat of the pan.

When the mixture is warm, grease your fingers with ghee and make around smooth balls. You can make any shape as you wish, I have made balls and made a dent impression with my thumb and filled sliced almond in it. You can also add crushed nuts as the pedas cool it gets harden.

Allow it to set for sometime. If you taste it immediately after preparing, it will be a bit chewy and sticky. So keep it aside for 5-6 hours. This usually tastes better the next day, but who will wait for so long 🙂