Milk is a very important part of Indian cuisine It is used in curries, curd cheeses, drinks, desserts, and many other types of dishes. It is also an important ingredient that needs to be manipulated in different way to obtain either a liquid or dry texture, depending on the needs of the recipe.
Khoya or Mawa is a solid made by taking whole milk and evaporating it to the the point that it is crumbly and solid in consistency. It is different from Paneer, or Indian curd cheese, because all traces of liquid are removed. It is an important ingredient in many Indian recipes that call for “dry milk.”
It is not like the evaporated dry milk we find in our local grocery stores. These are powdery. This type is also made from skim or low-fat milk and manufactured fairly easily and in larger quantities. Khoya/Mawa is a “milk solid” made from dehydrated FULL FAT WHOLE MILK. That’s right – this is the real deal with all that goodness in it to make your dish go from okay to amazing!
Making it from scratch can be a timely procedure, but after a bit of research and understanding exactly what is needed to make it, I learned that there there are 2 ways you can obtain Khoya/Mawa. 1. Find and Indian market that sells it. Or 2. Make your own version of “full fat” milk in your microwave!
You can absolutely make this on your stove, but in the interest of time AND using your microwave to do more than reheat those frozen dinners, here is the recipe!
You can use this for any type of Indian dessert or main dish that required Khoya/Mawa in it. AND – you get to learn how easy it is to make something so important in Indian cuisine (especially in Indian sweets), from your own kitchen!
Here you go!
How to Make: Instant Khoya or Mawa
Servings: 1 cup
Ingredients:
- 1 cup full fat milk powder (Which can be bought from any Indian market. Sometimes called “mawa powder.”)
- 1.5 tsp. ghee (clarified butter)
- ¼ cup whole milk
Instructions:
- Take milk powder in a bowl.
- Heat the milk and ghee in a small pan. Heat the mixture just till it comes to a boil.
- Add this hot milk-ghee mixture to milk powder.
- And mix it with spoon. It will look crumbly. If it looks still dry you can add more milk 1 teaspoon of milk at a time.
- You can shape it however you like while it is warm. As it cools it will hold that shape and it will harden.
- After that you can grate it or crumble it as needed.
Let me know your thoughts on this recipe. Comment below or tag me on IG @cmspiceculture with your own Khoya pics.
Enjoy!
