Both the recipes turn out simply delicious, rich and come close to the traditional doodh peda that literally melts in your mouth with a great aroma.

About Peda

Peda is a delicious Indian sweet made with full fat milk and sugar. This fudge like sweet is delicately flavored with cardamom powder or saffron. Peda originated in Mathura, a sacred city from the North Indian state Uttar Pradesh. Mathura is the birth place of Lord Shri Khrishna and pedas are offered as Prasad in The Krishna Janmasthan Temple. These divine morsels are hugely popular across India and are also offered to the deities. There are many different kinds of peda. The most basic one is known as Doodh peda or simply peda, where Doodh means “milk” in Hindi and the term “Peda” refers to any dough like food that is in a sphere or round shape. You will also find pedas made with besan and even with nuts. But the traditional age old recipe uses only milk and sugar.

Doodh peda

Doodh peda is made by simmering full fat milk until all of the liquids evaporate and only milk solids are left. These solids are sweetened with sugar and further simmered until a thick dough like substance is left. This is flavored with cardamom powder or sometimes with saffron known as Kesar. Then portions of this mixture is shaped to sphere or round shape which is known as Doodh peda. There are many kinds of peda available across India. Here are some you will find in Indian sweets stores:

Mathura peda are traditionally made with cow’s milk and Tagar or boora, a kind of sugar. The milk solids also known as khoa or mawa are cooked down until it turns to a light brown color so they turn out to be brown.Dharwad peda is popular across Karnataka and originated in Dharwad, a city in Karnataka. These pedas are dark brown in color and rolled in powdered sugar. To make these, the milk solids are cooked along with the sugar until the sugar caramelizes and the mixture turns aromatic.Palakova is a South Indian version of peda which is white in color. A lot of people make this with water buffalo milk which gives it a richer taste.Kesar peda is flavoured with saffron which gives them a distinct warm flavor.I also have a special Chocolate peda in this post which I make for my kids. It is made with cocoa powder.

My Recipes

Making traditional doodh peda takes several hours with constant arm work as the mixture needs to stirred non-stop to prevent burning. Both the recipes shared in this post are a breeze to make as we use milk powder or store bought khoya. This reduces the cook time drastically and the pedas turn delicious too. In the first recipe, I made instant mawa using milk powder which just took about 6 mins. Then cooled it and then sweetened and flavored it. In the second recipe, I used store bought mawa & condensed milk. These peda are much superior in taste and come close to the traditional ones. If you have store bought mawa and want to make these without condensed milk, then you may simply skip making the instant mawa in recipe 1. I have shared more details in the tips below. You can flavor these milk peda with kesar, cocoa, rose water, kewra water or just with cardamom powder. More Diwali Sweets RecipesRasgullaRasmalaiGulab jamunMysore pakPuran poli

Recipe 1 with milk powder

How to Make Doodh Peda (Stepwise photos)

Make instant mawa with milk powder

  1. Pour ½ tablespoon ghee to a non-stick pan.
  2. Pour ½ cup milk. When the milk becomes warm, add 1 cup milk powder. I used Nestle everyday regular.
  3. Regulate the flame to low and mix both of them well to make a smooth mixture.
  4. Keep stirring constantly and cook on a medium flame. You will see the mixture begins to turn thicker.
  5. After 1 to 2 mins, it becomes thicker and sticky. Then add another ½ tablespoon ghee.
  6. Keep stirring continuously & cook until it becomes a mass and leaves the pan. While you stir ensure you also collect the mixture stuck to the sides of the pan. Instant mawa is ready.

Shape peda

  1. Transfer this to a mixing bowl and cool down.
  2. When it is slightly warm, add the ¼ to ½ teaspoon cardamom powder and 4 to 5 tablespoons powdered sugar. [Don’t add sugar when the milk solids are hot or even slightly hot. Sugar will melt and make the entire thing sticky]
  3. Knead the dough to smooth. Taste test and add more sugar if you prefer. Divide to 8 equal portions and roll to balls.
  4. Flatten and tuck in a sliced pistachio in the center of each peda. (Watch video). Store in an air tight jar. These milk powder pedas stay good at room temperature for 1 day and in the refrigerator for upto a month. They will remain dry and non-sticky if prepared properly.

Recipe 1 – Pro Tips

To use saffron, crush a pinch of saffron strands and add it once the milk becomes warm. Turn off the stove and let it soak for a while then proceed with the next step.You can also use 1 teaspoon rose water or a few drops of kewra water. Pour it along with the milk.Overcooking the mixture can make the pedas dense & dry. So take off the mixture from the stove in time.If you have store bought mawa and want to follow the recipe 1, then simply heat up the mawa on a low flame for a few minutes. Remove and cool down. Follow the recipe from step 7 in step-by-step instructions.

Recipe 2 – Mawa Peda

  1. Defrost mawa/khoya either in microwave or refrigerator or leave it at room temperature for about 30 minutes. If you are using frozen khoya. Do not begin to heat up very cold one, sometimes this makes the khoya taste bitter. [Optional: Soak 1 pinch saffron in 2 tablespoons hot milk. I did not use it.]
  2. Crumble 200 grams khoya (about 1½ cup) and add it to a pan.
  3. Add ½ tin condensed milk (½ of 400 grams tin). Also add in ½ teaspoon cardamom powder and saffron milk if using.
  4. Begin to cook on a medium flame. Cook the mixture stirring constantly. It melts and turns gooey.
  5. Next cook till the mixture thickens, while stirring constantly and becomes a mass. Turn off the heat.
  6. After cooling the mixture looks smooth and slightly darker in color. It thickens as well.

Making peda

  1. Grease your palms, take small portions and roll them to balls. Flatten them and dent in the center. Tuck the chopped pistachios. I had set aside a part of this mixture and added cocoa. Knead well and made some chocolate peda. Store them in a air tight jar and refrigerate. Related Recipes

Recipe card

Doodh peda recipe first published in October 2014. Updated and republished in November 2021.

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