Kaju Peda - Indian Sweet

Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel and bring it to boil.

Alongside dry roast cashews nuts and powder it.

Once the milk has risen, bring the heat to meduim and reduce it to half the volume. This will take about 20-30 minutes. Take care to keep on stirring so as not to burn the bottom. Skim the froth to the sides every now and continue this till the end.

Once it has reduced to half, bring down the heat to meduim-low and reduce the milk further until it becomes thick. Once you see the milk becoming thick, reduce the heat to low. The milk will burn faster at this stage. The whole process of thickening will take about 2-3 hours..

Once the milk has become thick and has started leaving the sides of the vessel, you have made "Khoya". We can buy khoya from any Indian/ Asian store just like Paneer, to save time. But I always prefer making it myself because you can decide the consistency of Khoya. For making Peda you need soft Khoya, that is not very solid and thick.

Add sugar and ghee to the khoya and keep on stirring.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add the powdered cashew nuts.and mix well until you see no lumps at all. Finally add Cardamom powder (Elaichi). Keep stirring till the mixture does not stick to the sides of the vessel.

Grease a non-stick pan/plate with ghee. Pour the mixture into the pan/plate and let it cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, apply some ghee onto your hands and roll it into 35-40 small balls and top it with cashew. Ghee will prevent the peda mixture from sticking onto your hands, so you may have to apply it after every 2 or 3 balls. The ghee will also give the peda a shiny gloss.

Now you have Kaju Peda for Navratri, Diwali or whatever occassion it may be.

You can make Khoya beforehand to save time and keep it in an air tight container in fridge for 2-3 days

You can make Kaju burfi in the same way but you mut not add the ghee as given in step 6. Pour the mixture into a greased non-stick pan of desired shape and size. Once cool, cut the burfi into the desired shape ( most common being daimond shape). Top with pistachios and you have Kaju Burfi ready.

Preparation time - 3 hours for making khoya and 30 minutes for making peda mixture. This does not include the time for cooling the mixture.