Making Khoa or Mawa or Khoya (Solidified Milk)

Ingredients:

• 2 litre full cream milk

• A heavy bottomed pan.

• If making granular khoya, juice of 1/4-1/2 lemon

Instructions:

Making Plain Khoya:

1. Bring milk to boil in a heavy bottomed pan. Reduce flame to medium and simmer. Continue simmering, stirring very frequently, especially towards the end, when milk has become thick. You must not let it ‘catch/stick’ at the bottom, or it will burn. Smell of burnt milk is terrible and no good for making anything with. It is good only for the bin!

2. When the milk is almost solid, quite thick, turn the heat off and allow to cool. It will solidify a little more as it cools.

3. If not using immediately, cut in 2-3 portions and freeze, wrapped in a cling film or in a plastic bags.

Making Granular Khoya (Danedar Khoya): This is used for making some special sweets like Milk Cake and Kala-kand.

1. Bring the milk to boil. Turn heat down to medium.

2. Add 1/4-1/2 tsp. of lemon juice, a little at a time, until the milk curdles very, very slightly. The whey should not separate. If it does, you have added too much lemon juice. Proceed to make paneer.

3. Continue to simmer until it is almost solid. The resulting khoya is slightly granular.