Patiently making Peera
It’s been a decade now since I first made Peera – Indian Milk Fudge also known as Doodh Peda. Making it from scratch is truly a labour of love, and the way it melts in your mouth is superior in quality to the quick method. The long method requires patience and determination, traits I felt I possessed, but I did not know to what extent until I made Peera. I shared my trials and triumphs with you back then. And I am sharing them with you again because we find ourselves in a time where we have a little more time to mull things over; we are not rushing around as we used to, and some are spending a little more time in the kitchen – perfect for making from-scratch Peera.
There are many things to celebrate at Diwali and one of the things many look forward to is the variety of sweetmeats that are made and shared with family, friends and loved ones, among them is Peera, a soft fudge that’s made on special occasions such as Diwali, the birth of children, weddings, etc.
The ingredients for Peera are simple. You need whole milk, white sugar, and ground cardamom to add flavour. That’s it. Three ingredients. The first time I set out to make Peera, using the long method, I knew going in that I would be spending at least 4 uninterrupted hours making the fudge. I started promptly at 7.10 in the morning, little did I know that at 5 pm I’d still be in the kitchen making a second batch of Peera, and little did I know that the following day, I’d head back into the kitchen to start the process all over again for the third time! Sheer madness!
The preamble
Peera is traditionally made with khoya/khova – whole milk that has been cooked low and slow by being stirred continuously until the milk has significantly reduced in volume, all the water evaporated, and the milk solids combined to make a soft lightly coloured dough. It takes hours to make khoya.
The making of Peera is very similar to making khoya because the milk has to reduce in volume from 4 cups to 1 cup (this varies depending on how much milk you start with). Then sugar has to be added which then produces a lot of liquid. The sugar and reduced milk mixture is cooked low and slow, stirred continuously so as not to scorch or ever come to a boil until it becomes a moist, pasty dough cleanly leaves the sides of the pot or pan.
There are only 2 extremely important things to note about making Peera from scratch. Actually, make that 3 extremely important things:
You must have time to make the Peera, honestly, you can’t move away from the stove.
You must stir the pot continuously in order to prevent scorching and to ensure that the Peera has the right colour – light cream.
You have to watch the mixture carefully in the last stage to see exactly when to remove it from the heat.
So, here’s how things went down.
Day one
Peera Making Batch # 1
Start time 7.10 am End time: 11.50 am
Hour No. 1 - Milk in the pot, heat on medium. Brought the milk to a boil then reduced the heat to low. As instructed from one recipe, for the first hour, I stirred the milk every 3 to 5 minutes. So far, so good – no scorching, milk has reduced a little.
Hour No. 2 – Milk continues to cook on low and I figure that I can stir intermittently, I don’t need to physically sit or stand by the stove to stir all the time. I busy myself doing other minor things in the kitchen and I keep stirring every 3 – 5 minutes. I do notice sometimes that when I get back to the pot, the milk is simmering and changing colour slightly but really, nothing to be alarmed about. Later, I begin to notice just a tiny smidgen of scorching. Quickly got rid of that by standing and stirring continu
ously.
Hour No. 3 – Things seem to be under control; no more scorching and so again I move away and come back to stir every 3 – 5 minutes. The milk has now reduced significantly, and it looks like the colour of evaporated milk. Cool, I think. So, this is how one can make homemade evaporated milk. At the end of the hour, I measure to ensure that the milk is one full cup and no more, before I add the sugar.
I add the sugar and just as I thought, the volume increases, and the thick creamy milk becomes a bit watery. I spend at least another hour stirring, waiting for the milk-sugar mixture to reduce.
Hour No. 4 – Stirring until the milk has dissolved, I double-checked that the heat was still very low and moved away, coming back to stir every 3 – 5 minutes. Bad idea – the mixture is quickly scorching now because of the sugar and because I am not stirring continuously. I try my best to remove the scorched bits that surface whenever I’d stir. By this time, the mixture is now brick red and it is not supposed to be that colour! I can’t turn the heat any lower, the only other stage would be to turn the stove off completely! Besides, the mixture still looks too wet! Panic steps in, I want to toss the pot in the sink, but I don’t. I decided that I could not wait for the mixture to get any drier, so I quickly stirred in the cardamom and removed the pot from the heat. Transferred the mixture to a greased plate to cool.
In a split second I make the decision that I am starting the process all over again. Mind you, this is after spending more than 4 hours making this first batch of Peera. At this point in time, I am in a zone where determination took over (more like insanity). This time, I decided to do it differently. I am going to make khoya and then knead in the sugar and cardamom. Doing it this way should save me an hour at least because then I don’t have to deal with the liquid that would result from heating the sugar.
Peera Making Batch # 2
Start time: 12 noon End time: 5 pm
The first hour goes by uneventfully. I stir every 3 – 5 minutes; the milk has reduced a little. The second hour arrives, and this time, I stir continuously for longer peri
ods of time, step away for about 3 minutes and then repeat the process. Hour 3 came, I did not have to measure for a 1-cup reduction this time, remember I am making the khoya? I just have to let the liquid evaporate, let the milk solids combine and come away easily from the sides of the pot.
Three and a half hours later, I am standing thinking that this khoya should have been done by now, but it is still so wet… I couldn’t understand why. That’s when it struck me. I was now using a different pot, one that is deeper and not short and wide as the previous one, so the evaporation was taking longer. Cooking times, temperatures and doneness are always dependent on variables.
As the khoya came together, I noticed that it was not quite as light in colour as I had hoped. I knew immediately that it was because I kept moving away thinking that the longer periods of stirring in between would do the trick. Anyway, it was certainly not as red at the first set. Actually, I liked the colour; it looked like regular brown fudge.
The sugar and cardamom were kneaded into the khoya when it is was still warm but cool enough to handle. I shaped them into Peera and set them aside.
All night I tossed and turned and literally dreamt about making the Peera. I was a tormented soul. Here’s why, while the Peera looked and tasted good, the colour was off, way off. It is supposed to be a very light cream.
Day two
Peera Making Batch # 3
Start time: 8 am End time: 11.15 am
Milk in the pot, brought to a boil and then heat reduced to low. I stood at that stove for 3 hours and 15 minutes stirring non-stop. I had only paused long enough to add in the sugar. Let me tell you, I had no intentions of letting Peera-making get the better of me. I stirred with my right hand and when that hand got tired, I switched to my left hand. I shifted my weight from one leg to the other. I leaned against the stove. I stared out of the window looking at nothing in particular. And then I started to talk to myself. Not aloud!