Mathura peda – Mathura ka peda – Mathura ke pede- Mathura na penda, this Mathura style sweet is popular with such different names in India. Mathura peda is a red or reddish brown coloured mathura style mawa sweet, so delectable and favourite to most Indians. Today, I will show a few quick & easy tricks to make that Mathura peda (mathura style lal pedha) recipe at home. Ingredients are also very simple, just want whole milk (not khoya/mawa), Boora (powdered sugar), and cardamom powder.
For making this Mathura peda my step-by-step recipe and pictures will help you in detail to make it perfect. Mathura pedha is prepared just like other indian peda recipes with milk, ghee, and powdered sugar. However, the making process & texture of Mathura pedha are a little different. The only difference is while making all Indian pedha(except Dharwad pedha) are basically made of thickened evaporated milk. However, for making Mathura peda, either the milk is caramelised first and then made a caramelised khoya or mawa through evaporation, or directly cook the khoya or mawa in ghee and sugar to caramelise them. That is the secret of how this sweet captures its lal(red or dark brown in English) texture.
Originally, mathera peda was invented in North India’s oldest & sacred city, Mathura, which is why this sweet is named after the place Mathura. This sweet is the main offering & prasad of the deity of Mathura, “Madan Mohan, or Lord Sree Krishna” as prasad.
Though I make it differently, not in the traditional way but rather by using a few tricks which make it quick and easy. Believe me, tastewise my homemade Mathura style peda can easily compete with Mathura’s famous and best sweet shops pedha for sure.
Mathura peda has a speciality of its super soft, delicious brown-colored aka lal pedha and it easily melts in the mouth. Basically in the traditional method, khoya is caramelized for a long time for making this dark brown texture. However, instead of direct caramelizing khoya, I prepared the khoya from my caramelized milk. That method was much more effective as well as an easy & quick procedure.
Are you planning to make this Mathura peda at home with store-bought mawa or milk powder by replacing the milk? Then either mix up the milk powder with a little water, whole milk or condensed milk, or mix up the mawa with a little milk or condensed milk. Then caramelise the mixture by following the way I used here, and the rest of the method will also be the same as mine.
As Dharwad’s peda and Mathura ka pede look alike due to their same texture so a huge comparison exists between these two sweets. Though according to taste and flavour Dharwad pedha and mathura pedha are easily separable from each other. Otherwise, one would be considered as a copycat of another, which never happened.
Being a Bengali, we are best known for our sweet tooth, so I always try to prepare the sweet specialities of other states too. Due to that curiosity, I experimented with different types of sweets, including peda in my kitchen, and today’s Mathura-style peda is one of them.
As every Shree Krishna Janmashtami, I prepare a special sweet for offering to Lord Krishna. So this year, I decided to prepare this Mathura peda recipe to celebrate the festival. Thought, that would be a good idea to save money and also a great satisfaction for serving such a pure, healthy, and homemade peda to my deity. Though these days covid situation also one more reason to avoid buying sweets from the shops.
Try this delicious Mathura peda at home, I hope my step by step detail will help you to make this sweet perfectly. Do not forget to share your views & valuable feedback about this recipe in the comment section below.
Even try some other sweets from my website for this Janmashtami festival
Doodh peda recipe
Malpua recipe
Rabri, or rabdi recipe
Happy Sree Krishna Janmashtami to all of my readers. May Lord Krishna give us the strength to deal with this current situation and save us all. Best to stay safe and healthy. Jai Shree Krishna.
Mathura peda recipe – Mathura style lal pedha – Mathura ke pede
Ingredients of Mathura ka peda
- 1.5-liter Full-Fat Milk
- 6 tbsp Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar or Boora
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
- 2 tbsp Milk
- 1+1 /2 tsp Ghee
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 1 hr 15 min
Total time: 1 hrs 20 mins
No. of Servings: 14 pieces
Course: Sweet/ Dessert
Cuisine: North Indan
Author: Moumita Paul
How to make mathura peda with step by step pictures
First step- Boil the milk until half
- Take the milk in a wide pan on a high flame in the gas oven. Let it boil.
- Continuously stir the milk and especially stir the bottom of the pan.
- Milk generally sticks to the bottom of the pan if not stirred properly, and milk easily gets a burning smell, so do it carefully.
- Scrape the sides of the pan at the same time to collect the cream.
- As the cream accumulates on the side of the pan.
- When the milk gets reduced to its half then remove the pan from the heat, and keep it aside.
Second step – caramelizing sugar
- Take another pan, place it on the lowest heat, and add 6 tbsp of granulated sugar to it.
- Though I didn’t add water, you may add 2 tbsp of water to melt it quickly.
- Let the sugar melts down and starts to caramelize by changing its color.
- Start stirring it and do it continuously till gets dark color.
- Then add one and a half tsp ghee to the pan and mix it well with the caramelized sugar.
- Stir it continuously.
- Once the caramelized sugar completely mixes with the ghee. Then stir it until it gets a dark brown color.
Third step – Caramelizing milk
- Then add 1/2 cup of milk(from the reduced milk) to the pan and stir it continuously.
- When the caramelized sugar is completely mixed up with the milk. Then add it with the reduced milk. Mix it well.
- Now place the milk pan on high heat and continuously stir.
Fourth step- Making caramelized khoya / Mawa
- Once the milk got thickened by evaporation. Starts forming khoya or mawa, then slows down the heat to avoid burning from the bottom.
- After continuous stirring, when mawa starts to remove the bottom of the pan, it indicates it is going to become ready.
- Cook it till the mawa or milk solids fully separate from the pan, come into the centre and easily get a shape.
- Then turn off the heat and transfer the khoya to a plate, and completely cool it down.
Fifth step- Khoya with powdered sugar / Boora
- Once the khoya cools down, add 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar or boora with the caramelised khoya. Mix them well.
- You can even use store bought tagar(a type of powdered sugar) too, if tagar is available around.
- After mixing with powdered sugar, If you feel the khoya is too dry or hard, then you may mix 1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of milk into it. Mix it well. Here, milk adds little moisture and makes the mixture sticky to form a shape.
Sixth step- Giving Mathura peda like shape
Now start shaping it as your choice. Here I gave it a rectangular shape. As I first make its round shape then make its four sides flat.
- Now, divide the mixture into medium lemon sized balls, then give them a rectangular shape. Our sweet shop-style lal mathura peda is ready with a perfect shape. As shown below pic.
Seventh step – Coat the peda with sugar
- Just coat the peda in powdered sugar as the famous sweet shops in Mathura do(though optional).
- Mathura style lal peda is ready to serve.
Important tips about this recipe
- Always stir the milk from the beginning to the end, don’t leave it unattended.
- If using storebought khoya or mawa, as that is quite hard in nature, so must blend it well with a little milk before caramelising. Blending helps in making a soft and creamy khoya. During caramelisation, also continuously stir the khoya or mawa and always maintain the heat to avoid burning. As I described in the instruction part below.
- Though all the sweet shops of Mathura only use the elaichi powder in their pedas. But you may use other flavors too like nutmeg or mace if you want.