10/5/09

Easy Milk Burfi / Peda


If you live in cities like Chicago, New Jersey, New York , Dallas (to name a few) or places where there are a lot of Indians or Pakistanis residing like the Bay area etc. finding freshly made mithai is no big deal. Mithai, by the way, is a milk based sweet treat loaded with sugar and khoya and nuts /dry fruits. Back in India mithais are made on daily basis and are found everyday in every local mithai shops. My childhood memories bring back the aromas of freshly fried Jalebis and still warm, melt in your mouth besan laddoos, mysore paak ....yum... I remember when we had huge celebrations at home, my father would call a mithaiwala (person who makes/sells mithai ) home and get mothichoor laddoos etc. done as we kids watched over . It was fun !

In Boston, where I live (in the suburbs), we usually have to settle for the mithais we get in the frozen section of the desi store. Milk burfi also known as kalakand is one of my favourites. This recipe would be more of a burfi than a kalakand due to its texture as kalakand generally is very granular.

Its a wonderful recipe, fit for parties/crowds. It can be made ahead of time with very little effort, few ingredients, no added sugar as we use sweetened condensed milk and gives very delicious results.

Ingredients :

1 can (14 0z.) condensed milk,
15 oz. ricotta cheese,
1 C pistachios coarsely chopped,
1.5 tsp. elaichi powder, or to taste ,
ghee for greasing .


Method :

In a heavy botttom pan combine condensed milk and ricotta cheese. Cook on medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from stove top and stir in the elaichi /cardamom powder. Grease a dish with ghee. (I used a 8" square baking dish, but you could also use a pie plate or any other size plate depending on how thick you want the slices to be.) Let the mixture cool slightly, then pour it on the greased plate sprinkle pistachios on the top and press lightly with your hands , just so the nuts stick to the mixture. Let it cool. Refrigerate for 2- 3 hours/ overnight. Cut into squares and serve.

If you want to make pedas then follow the same instructions until you pour the mixture to set. Let it set in fridge for a few hours. Using a tablespoon measure scoop out the mix and roll between palms to make pedas , roll the pedas in ground pistachios and refrigerate again for some time.

To share with this sweet treat are a lot of awards kindly passed on by a very sweet friend Sri Lekha . Thanks Sri for remembering me :)
















I would further pass on these awards to
5 Star Foodie, A2Z Vegetarian, Anjum, Asha, Humaira, Jeena, Lubna, Lubna, Mansi, Mona, Pravs, Shaista and Yasmeen for inspiring many like me and being good friends, Thank you !

17 comments:

Madhuram said...

That's a neat idea. With Diwali nearing this a very easy sweet to prepare.

Uma said...

mmm. delicious treat!! looks so easy and yummy :) Congrats on all those awards.

Faiza Ali said...

That looks soo yummmmmmy...First time here..lovely blog with so many yummy recipes...And congrats for all the awards..will keep visiting :)

Priya Suresh said...

Woww wat a delicious and quick burfi, looks simply fabulous!!

mona said...

Rahin, The Burfi sounds yummy! Inshallah will it a try when I have all ingredients on hand.
Jazakallahu Khairun for passing on the awards to me.
Takecare!

Anjum said...

Never thought we can make these stuff at home. Always its the methai ki dukan that comes to mind for peda and other things. Jazakallah for sharing..!

Unknown said...

My big sis also makes this kind of sweet,easy and quick with ricotta cheese.thanks for passing all the awards dearie :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks a million for passing to me your lovely awards, congrats!

Suma Gandlur said...

Quick and yummy dessert. Congrats for all the awards.

Humaira said...

Rahin, mithai looks yumm...brings back memories of my childhood.Thank you so much for the awards. You are really generous and you rock!!

Padma said...

SImple and delicious burfi... looks very tempting and congrats on all ur awards.

Namitha said...

fabulous burfi..I totally understood what you were trying to say about availability of sweets, because we have the same problem....Congrats for the awards :-)

Lubna said...

Oh my those are a lot of awards Rahin...Jazak Allah, that's very thoughtful of you.
That Barfi looks to die for :p. Thanks for sharing it!

anjum said...

Thanks 4 passing me the award..the pics look g8..im not a mithai lover..but my husband sure is..i must make this one 4 him

Manaswini said...

Thank you for this recipe! I made this for Diwali last night. After refrigerating for about 8 hours, its still not firm. I cannot cut it up into separate burfi pieces.

What did I do wrong? Is there any way to fix it?

It still tastes really good :o)

Anonymous said...

You don't say how long to cook the burfi on the stove? It doesn't harden if you don't cook it long enough.
Thanks,
Sarah

Rahin said...

Thank You All :)

Manaswini, sincerely apologize for the delay in responding, these pieces will not come out as perfect as kaju katli/burfi , its not that stiff, it does retain its shape though. I would not be able to comment on wht u did wrongly, may be try cooking it a bit longer...thanks

You are right Sarah, I dint mention the exact time bcoz tht could vary, the key is to let the mixture thicken