Start the festivities with Instant Homemade Mathura Peda!

With Raksha Bandhan celebrations where the brother and sister bond is revowed with tying of rakhi, the festival season in India commences. Followed by Janmashtami – the birthday of Lord Krishna and Ganesh Chaturthi – the birthday of Lord Ganesh. These festivities call for delightful food to be eaten with family and friends. So here is simple and instant mathura peda recipe and few slight versions of it by which one can make a variety of flavored Indian sweets with minimum efforts. Afterall homemade sweets that are quick to make and tasty to eat is a win-win situation.

Mathura Peda is a famous Indian sweet made from khoya/mawa. Mathura is the birth place of Lord Krishna. WHo is said to be the eight avtar of Vishnu – one of the Gods that forms the base of Hindu triology. He was born in a family of  cow herders and so was very fond of milk and milk products. The tradition of milk sweets being made in Mathura, Vrindavan and nearby areas in U.P. state of India is because of this very reason.

Here are recipes of tthree different versions of Mathura Peda:

Kesar Mawa Peda:

Ingredients:

200 grams Mawa/Khoya

50 grams powdered sugar

1/4th tsp. Cardamon powder

Few strands of Saffron

2 Tbs. Milk

Method:

• Soak saffron strands in warm milk.
• Take a heavy bottom pan to avoid khoya/mawa sticking or burning. Khoya will first loosen up to solution like consitency and but with continous stirring cook it till it gets thick and start to leave the pan sides.It takes about 12 to 15 minutes.
• Now add sugar, cardamom powder and saffron strands & milk mixture.
• Mix well and cook till the whole mixture dries up and leaves thee sides of pan.
• let the mix cool a bit untill manageable. Work to make small equal sized balls out of the mixture.
• Let them cool and garnish with pistachios. Your Kesar Mathura Peda or Kesar Mawa Peda is ready.

Chocolate Mawa Peda:

Ingredients:

200 grams Mawa/Khoya

50 grams powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder

Pistachio for garnishing

Method:

• Take a heavy bottom pan to avoid khoya/mawa sticking or burning. Khoya will first loosen up to a solution like consistency and but with continuous stirring cook it till it gets thick and start to have the brown color. It takes about 20 minutes on slow flame.
• Now add sugar & Cocoa Powder to it.
• Mix well and cook till the whole mixture dries up and leaves the sides of the pan.
  • Let the mix cool a bit until manageable. Work to make small equal sized balls out of the mixture.
• Let them cool and garnish with pistachios. Your Chocolate Mathura Peda or Chocolate Mawa Peda is ready.

Sugar coated Mathura Peda:

Ingredients:

200 grams Mawa/Khoya

50 grams powdered sugar

1/2 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder

Castor Sugar granules for rolling

Method:

• Take a heavy bottom pan to avoid khoya/mawa sticking or burning. Khoya will first loosen up to a solution like consistency and but with continuous stirring cook it till it gets thick and start to have a brown color. It takes about 20 minutes on slow flame.
• Now add sugar & Cocoa Powder to it. Cocoa powder help in getting the right color like the market. (This is my tip if you have any way better to get the market like color then please tell.)
• Mix well and cook till the whole mixture dries up and leaves the sides of the pan.
• Let the mix cool a bit until manageable. Work to make small equal sized balls out of the mixture.
• Roll the peda balls in castor sugar granules until they are nicely coated with it. Let them cool. Your Sugar coated Mathura Peda or Sugar coated Mawa Peda is ready.

A BONUS  RECIPE TIP:

Using Kesar Mawa Peda or Chocolate peda mix one can also shape them instead of balls and rather give the shape of modak.

Your yummilicious Mawa Modaks are ready for Ganesh Chaturthi!

Tried these recipes and got them right then do write in!