Mathura Peda
Oct 25, 2018, Updated Aug 26, 2024
Mathura Peda is a classic Indian sweet made with roasted mawa (milk solids), sugar and flavored with cardamom. These are done in less than 30 minutes!
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Mathura Peda – a classic Indian sweet made with milk solids and sugar. These instantly take me back to my childhood!
I am sharing one of my favorite sweets for Diwali today- Mathura Peda or like we used to say Mathura ke Pede!
When I was a kid, peda was hands down my favorite sweet. Every year, when we would visit my grandmother’s village for our summer vacation, she would make peda for us.
It was something, I looked forward to the most!
My grandfather was a farmer, we had many cows and so that peda was made from fresh milk, right after milking the cow. You can imagine how delicious that peda might have tasted.
I kid you not, only 2 ingredients – milk and sugar and it was the best dessert ever.
Whenever I think of our summer days spent at my nani’s house, I inadvertently think of peda. It’s one of my sweetest childhood memory.
I still think that no sweet can come close to my nani’s peda. It’s been years since I had it though.
What is Mathura Peda?
Mathura is a town in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. And while famous for various other things, it’s also famous for its extremely delicious peda.
Peda is a sweet made from mawa/khoya aka milk solids. The traditional way of making peda is tedious and long. I shared my experience of making my nani’s (grandmother) peda at home in this post.
Basically to make peda from scratch, you would need to start with whole milk. You would then cook that milk for hours until only the solids remain. The milk solids is known as mawa or khoya.
Once you have the solids, you add in the sugar, cardamom powder and shape them into peda. Mathura Pede are also rolled in some sugar once done.
How to Make Peda
Now, I like cooking from scratch but making peda from scratch? No, thank you! I have tried making mawa (milk solids) at home and I was so so tired by the end of it that I decided no more.
Seriously, hats off to those who can do this but it’s just not my thing.
This time I decided to make mathura peda or peda like my nani used to make but didn’t want to make mawa from scratch. So, I bought it from the Indian grocery store and made these peda.
You can find mawa at Indian grocery stores in the refrigerator section along with the paneer and other things.
These were done in less than 30 minutes!
To start off, grate the mawa and then start roasting it. For these peda, you have to roast the mawa until it gets really dark brown in color. It takes around 15-20 minutes on low-medium heat.
Once the mawa is roasted, you add sugar to it and then make pedas.
For making Mathura Peda, powdered sugar is not traditionally used. What is used is known as boora/tagar. It’s sugar with a porous texture, it’s also aromatic due to the addition of ghee.
Now here, I have used powdered sugar since that’s what I had on hand and I didn’t want to take the extra effort to make boora. You can use whatever you want to!
Method
I used store bought mawa from Savera brand. You can use any brand of choice. You can find mawa at Indian grocery stores in the freezer section, usually right next to paneer.
1- Grate 250 grams of mawa. Take a heavy bottom pan (non-stick preferred) and add grated mawa to it. Set to heat to low-medium.
2- Start roasting the mawa, stirring continuously. After 5 minutes, it will start to change color, at this point add 1 tablespoon of ghee and keep stirring.
3- It will start turning light golden color. But for Mathura peda, we want dark brown color. So keep roasting and add remaining 1/2 tablespoon ghee.
4- After 10 minutes, it will start to get darker and look like it does in picture no. 4.
5 & 6- Keep roasting at low heat. After around 15 minutes, we are almost there.
7- As my mawa looked dry, I added 2 tablespoons of milk at this point.
8- After adding milk, roast for a minute or two until the milk is absorbed. Remember heat should always be low.
9- Remove pan from heat and transfer the roasted mawa to a blender. I roasted the mawa altogether for 15-20 minutes on low heat.
10- Now grind the roasted mawa in a blender to make it smooth. I added 1 more tablespoon milk while grinding it. If your mixture doesn’t look dry don’t add milk here. Grind the mixture for few seconds until it becomes smooth.
11- Transfer mixture to a large bowl.
12- And add cardamom powder to it and mix.
13- Let the mixture cool a little (for few minutes).
14- When you can touch it (it should still be little warm), add the powdered sugar and mix using your hands. I have used only 1/2 cup powdered sugar here, it’s lightly sweetened. Add more as needed.
15- Now take a piece of dough and roll between your palm to make a round ball. Then flatten slightly to shape it like a peda.
16- Roll the peda in turbinado sugar (if needed). Make all the pedas in the same way. I was able to get 10 pedas out of this.
Mathura Ka Peda are now ready to be devoured! You may garnish these with nuts.
If you’ve tried this Mathura Peda Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
Mathura Peda
Ingredients
- 250 grams mawa/khoya grated, around 2 cups grated mawa
- 1.5 tablespoons melted ghee 22 ml
- 2-3 tablespoons milk 30-45 ml, as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar 55 grams, or adjust to taste
- turbinado/raw sugar to roll the peda, optional
Instructions
- I used store bought mawa from Savera brand. You can use any brand of choice. You can find mawa at Indian grocery stores in the freezer section, usually right next to paneer.
- Grate 250 grams of mawa. Take a heavy bottom pan (non-stick preferred) and add grated mawa to it. Set to heat to low-medium.
- Start roasting the mawa, stirring continuously. After 5 minutes, it will start to change color, at this point add 1 tablespoon of ghee and keep stirring.
- It will start turning light golden color. But for Mathura peda, we want dark brown color. So, keep roasting and add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon ghee.
- After 10 minutes, it will start to get darker and look like it does in picture no. 4.
- Keep roasting the mawa at low heat. After around 15 minutes, we are almost there.
- As my mawa looked dry, I added 2 tablespoons of milk at this point. After adding milk, roast for a minute or two until the milk is absorbed. Remember heat should always be low.
- Remove pan from heat and transfer the roasted mawa to a blender. I roasted the mawa altogether for 15-20 minutes on low heat.
- Now grind the roasted mawa in a blender to make it smooth. I added 1 more tablespoon milk while grinding it. If your mixture doesn't look dry don't add milk here. Grind the mixture for few seconds until it becomes smooth.
- Transfer mixture to a large bowl and add cardamom powder to it and mix.
- Let the mixture cool a little (for few minutes).
- When you can touch it (it should still be little warm), add the powdered sugar and mix using your hands. I have used only 1/2 cup powdered sugar here, so it's lightly sweetened. Add more as needed.
- Now take a piece of dough and roll between your palm to make a round ball. Then flatten slightly to shape it like a peda.
- Roll the peda in turbinado sugar (if needed). Make all the pedas in the same way. I was able to get 10 pedas out of this mixture.
- Mathura Peda are now ready to be devoured! You may garnish these with nuts.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do you have a recipe for making mawa from scratch?
Hi Sweta! I don’t have one and the traditional process is so tedious, not worth it imo. You can check out few quicker ways to make mawa at home here: https://www.ruchiskitchen.com/recipe/how-to-make-mawa-5-ways-of-making-mawa/
This look delicious, Manali !
Could we add jaggery instead of sugar ?
Thanks !
Hi Nikita, yes you may! Use powdered jaggery!