Wishing you both a very happy married life. Congratulations!!
Happy cooking together!!
Why it's special
We always associate Pedhas with something special. Either special occasion or a good news of some sort!
Ingredients
Unsalted Butter 3/4th stick
Ricotta Cheese 14 oz tub (any kind, low fat or part skim or whole milk)
Sugar 1 cup
Non fat dry milk powder one and a half cups
Safran a few strands (a pinch) [optional]
Cardamom powder (small pinch ) [optional]
Pistachios (preferably unsalted). If it's lightly salted, just rub off the salt on a paper towel. Skip if nut allergies!
The ingredient quantities provided above yields about 30 to 35 bite size Pedhas! Enjoy!!
Steps
Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add Ricotta cheese. Break the lumps and stir to make a smooth but runny mixture. After 10-15 minutes of stirring, add sugar. Please make sure the heat is kept at medium-low. Also it may splatter on your hand, so be extra cautious. Stir this constantly. It will get very runny after adding Sugar but then it starts to get a little thick. At this time add saffron strands. Add in a smaller pinch of cardamom powder (optional). Then it gets fragrant, and looks a little yellow/ orange. When it gets a little bit more thicker in consistency, fold in the milk powder, stirring continuously. The milk powder may form a few lumps, so you will need to cool down this mixture and break the lumps with hand . You can also use fork or immersion blender instead of hand. When it gets to the stage where it feels like a cookie dough consistency, turn off the heat. Stir for 5 more minutes. Cool the mixture and roll into bite size balls. Garnish with a pistachio piece, and shape in the form of Pedha with help of a pressure cooker whistle.
Notes
If your timing of when to add milk powder or Ricotta cheese goes off a little bit, do not worry. As long as at the end the mixture is not runny and is of a cookie dough consistency, it will be fine. The only thing that can happen is that Pedhas may look a little more dark. It's very important to break off the milk powder lumps to make it smooth!