Malai peda is an Indian sweet made with solidified milk, whole milk, sugar and flavors like cardamom or saffron. Its super creamy and melt in the mouth. The ingredient list for malai peda is simple but traditional method requires long hours of cooking down the milk, scrapping and boiling till the milk solids are separated, which are then sweetened and rolled into small flat discs (peda).
Here in this recipe, I have simplified the process by using milk powder. The paste of milk powder, blanched almond powder and whole milk when cooked for a few minutes turns thick like mawa or khoya and eliminated the traditional long process of turning the milk into mawa. You can flavor these with cardamom but I used a few pinches of lavender and aloud extract for a unique flavor profile.
It does not taste like soap. Pedas have a mild floral hint and they are simply melt in the mouth. Lavender is a strong scent and you need to be careful when using it, for example here I used just 2 pinches of ground food grade lavender for its scent. The combination of lavender and milkiness of peda is simply divine. Food color is totally optional.
Here are a few things to be kept in mind :-
- Choose a full fat milk powder. I use Nido brand, its easily available in Indian stores and has 28% milk fat. If your milk powder is tasty, pedas will be tasty.
- Use full fat milk. And good quality ghee. When a recipe has few ingredients, the quality of ingredients is even more important.
- I use store bought fine ground almond powder by the brand Blue Diamond. However if you are grinding at home, soak the almonds for 4-6 hours and peel the skin. Let the almonds completely dry overnight before grinding them fine. You can use raw cashew powder instead of almonds if you want.
- Be careful when using lavender. Depending on the brand you use, it might have a strong or mild scent. The one that I used had a very strong scent so I just used 2 pinches. Also don’t add a lot since these dried flowers are bitter and will spoil your peda. Almond extract pushes the almond flavor and I like to add a drop of pure extract .
- Use powdered sugar instead of boora or plain ground sugar. Powdered or confectioners sugar has little corn starch mixed in which makes the texture fudge and smooth.
This is a small batch recipe and makes 8-10 peda of good size (about 30 g each). These peda keep good for 2-3 days in the fridge and you can freeze them for 3 weeks. Let thaw before serving, don’t warm in microwave.
Lavender Malai Peda
Ingredients
- 1.5 tbsp melted ghee
- 1.5 cup milk powder
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup fine almond powder
- 1/3 tsp good quality dried lavender flowers, grind to a fine powder in mortar pestle
- 1 drop pure almond extract
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 drop purple gel food color ,optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the ghee, milk powder, milk and almond powder. Using a spoon or whisk, mix togther till a smooth mix is formed. It will be slightly thick and pourable runny.
- Pour the mixture in a non stick pan (I use my 10 inch pan) and set it on a low medium stove.
- Start cooking and stirring. Dont walk away. You will see that mixture will start to become thick. After about 2 minutes it will be pasty and sticky.
- Keep stirring and scraping the sides till it becomes a thick mass and starts clumping around the spoon. Once that happens, dont stir a lot else pedas will become chewy. When the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan, its ready. Takes about 4-6 minutes.
- Take out in a bowl and let cool down slightly.
- Only when the mixture is cooler to touch(but not cold), add the almond extract, ground lavender and sugar. Using your hands, mix everything together. Add food color(if using) and knead to mix evenly.
- Divide into 8-10 portions. Smear some ghee on your palms and roll each portion into a smooth ball. Press the ball slightly to flatten it to resemble traditional peda shape. Repeat for all portions.
- Store in fridge upto 2-3 days. These can be frozen upto 3 weeks, thaw before serving(do not microwave).
Notes
- Choose a full fat milk powder. I use Nido brand, its easily available in Indian stores and has 28% milk fat. If your milk powder is tasty, pedas will be tasty.
- Use full fat milk. And good quality ghee. When a recipe has few ingredients, the quality of ingredients is even more important.
- I use store bought fine ground almond powder by the brand Blue Diamond. However if you are grinding at home, soak the almonds for 4-6 hours and peel the skin. Let the almonds completely dry overnight before grinding them fine. You can use raw cashew powder instead of almonds if you want.
- Be careful when using lavender. Depending on the brand you use, it might have a strong or mild scent. The one that I used had a very strong scent so I just used 2-3 pinches. Also don’t add a lot since these dried flowers are bitter and will spoil your peda. Almond extract pushes the almond flavor and I like to add a drop.
- Use powdered sugar instead of boora or plain ground sugar. Powdered or confectioners sugar has little corn starch mixed in which makes the texture fudge and smooth.
- These peda keep good for 2-3 days in the fridge and you can freeze them for 3 weeks. Let thaw before serving, don’t warm in microwave.
Wow , milk peda infused with some lavender. Very creative and tempting sweet Tanvi