home made khoya in microwave

 Khoya or khoa is thickened milk till it gets dry , almost like a ball of evaporated unsweetened milk . It is normally used to make sweets like peda and burfi and many more sweets or mithais as we call them . I miss getting fresh khoya off the counter for making my gujias most and always end up reducing the milk for hours on end in a thick base kadai . But that i do when i have to make gujias for holi n khoya is needed in large amounts . Sometimes just a 100 gm or 50 gm khoya is needed and reducing it the traditional way is not at all practical . Milk powder comes handy for this purpose and that is a must have item in my pantry , milk powder or dairy creamer whatever you call it , it can give you khoya instantly without messing up with you kitchen and utensils.........yes in a glass or ceramic bowl and a couple of minutes in front of the microwave.............that's all you need to do .

making khoya using milk powder ...

A teacup of milk powder goes into a 500 ml capacity bowl .

Add a tbsp of water to make a loose paste....

Cover with a plastic lid loosely and microwave for a minute on high....the mixture will push the lid up as it heats up . Take it out and check , it looks like this....

Cover again and heat for another minute , this time the mixture will push up the lid after every 5 seconds or so , stop for 2 seconds every time and repeat for 3-4 times .After 10 seconds and pausing twice it looks like this....

 Another go in the microwave and it dries up and becomes crumbly , daanedar as we call it ........
........daanedar khoya minton me taiyyar ..........it took less than two minute (1 minute 25 second to be precise ) for this quantity and you get a tea cup of loosely packed khoya .

This khoya tastes similar to the one we get in khoya gali of Banaras n i suspect the traders make it with powder milk themselves. The khoya available in delhi is spurious and i never buy that after just one trial..

Home made khoya by reducing the milk in a kadai for hours tastes different and certainly better than this . This khoya wins hands down because of it's quick availability. I made it to make a special curry , khoya matar , a specialty of Banaras apparently , though i ended up adding paneer to the curry and it was a khoya matar paneer ....recipe coming up next , stay tuned ....

khoye ka paratha | sweet khoya and nuts stuffed paratha for the sweet tooth

This khoye ka paratha is certainly a unique Banaras ka khana as I had never heard of it till we shifted to Banaras in the mis 80s. The people of Banaras are so obsessed with mithai and khoya (evaporated, dehydrated milk) that they can have it all the time.

There is a khoya gali in Banaras where only khoya is sold and it smells like khoya all over when you walk through that gali. I do not like khoya much and feel nauseating whenever I go there, but there are people who will come back with a kilo of khoya whenever they will pass through that area.

No one can resist some khoya as it promises gujhias and khoye ka paratha apart from khoya matar ki subzi. Now that we don't get good khoya in Delhi I have started making it at home. The home made khoya has become my savior. 

The khoye ka paratha paratha recipe has nothing special except that it has a sweet filling and becomes a 'more than special breakfast' on a lazy morning. The khoya is roasted in a deep kadhai till light brownso it keeps well for some time in the fridge. Some prepared khoya helps making such treats instantly.

Some sugar is added to taste if you like but we prefer it without the sugar. Some nuts and raisins are added and the mixture is used to stuff regular whole wheat dough to make parathas. Just stuff, roll and fry the paratha in ghee (nothing else will do).

And be ready for some smiles.

The raisins and the natural sweetness of the khoya is enough to sweeten this khoye ka paratha but you can add some crystal sugar if you like it really sweet.

Enjoy a khoye ka paratha on a weekend morning and see how happy everyone around is. These parathas can become a dessert if the size of the paratha is smaller or the regular paratha is quartered and served like a wedge of khoya stuffed paratha. This is actually one of the few rare sweet things that I like myself.