Ricotta Cheese Peda or Malai Peda was introduced to me by a good friend during a festival get-together at her home. The term "Peda" is common among sweets from India. It is almost like fudge but more of a semi-soft and thick consistency. Malai refers to the cream of milk. I loved the Peda instantly. When I learned how quick and easy it was to make this deliciously sweet, I wanted to try it out myself.
This is a great choice to make for any celebration. As the festival of lights, Diwali is approaching in a few days, folks celebrating are getting ready with festivities and preparing sweets. We all need a reason to celebrate such occasions in whatever little way, so we can focus and be grateful for the good things in life.
Ingredients needed for the Peda
- Ricotta Cheese packet - A store-bought variety like Galbani is preferred as it makes the job easy.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk - Gives a rich taste and we can avoid the addition of sugar as it is already sweet.
- Milk powder - Any kind. I used the "milk mawa" powder that is available in the Indian Grocery store here and used in many Indian sweets like Mava gujhiya, Microwave Milk Peda and many others.
- Cardamom - Green cardamoms are used, and they are powdered to get a nice aroma and flavor.
- Ghee - Applied on the palms to roll the pedas into small balls.
Why does this recipe work?
- It is easy to make and gets done in no time.
- It has a simple list of ingredients, and they are all usually found in your pantry.
- They are small little fudge balls, and bite-sized ones like the ladoo made using rava coconut ladoo recipe, and can be had guilt-free.
- Guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser at any get-togethers
How do you make Ricotta Cheese Peda?
I used the store-bought Ricotta cheese for this recipe. You could also try making the Ricotta cheese from scratch at home but I have not tried that. We also need the sweetened condensed milk and milk powder that is easily available. A little cardamom powder is added to enhance the taste. Most of these items are usually found in your pantry.
This is such a quick and easy sweet dessert to make and a crowd-pleasing one too. It is delicious, irresistible, and tempting to keep having one after another as they are small and bite-sized.
To prepare we first mix the Ricotta cheese and condensed milk in a bowl and transfer it into a pan. Stir the mixture continuously for about 20 minutes, till it leaves the sides. Next, add milk powder. I used the milk mawa powder you get in the Indian grocery store.
Keep stirring until it is well combined. Finally, it forms a dough-like consistency. Cardamom powder is added at this point. The flame is switched off. Once cooled for about 10 to 15 minutes, make the pedas by taking a small scoop of the mixture, and making small round balls with your palms.
First press it and then roll it between both palms. You can use a little ghee while rolling and shaping the pedas to get smooth round shapes.
Tips to make the ricotta cheese peda
- Use a heavy-bottomed pan to make this sweet dish so that the cheese and condensed milk combined do not get stuck to the sides.
- Stir continuously and cook on medium or low flame and take care not to burn the mixture
- Cool the mixture before rolling the pedas as they cannot be shaped when hot.
- Smear a little ghee on your palms while shaping the pedas into small balls to avoid the dough sticking onto your palms.
Ricotta Cheese Peda
Ingredients
- 15 oz Ricotta Cheese
- 1 can Condensed milk
- ⅓ or ½ cup Milk powder
- ¼ tsp Cardamom powder
- 2 tbsp Ghee For rolling the peda dough into small balls
Instructions
- In a bowl mix Ricotta cheese & condensed milk , transfer to a heavy bottomed pan .
- Heat the mixture on medium flame , it will first loosen up a bit.
- Continue stirring for about 20 minutes until the mixture starts leaving sides of the pan.
- Add milk powder and continue stirring till it becomes like a big mass of dough.
- Add cardamom powder to this and switch off flame .
- Cool the mixture for about 10-15 minutes.
- Make small round balls using your palm.
- Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Nutrition
If you loved this sweet dish you will definitely love the milk peda (fudge) that I posted for last Diwali. Do check it out as well. Hope you have a safe, fun, and blessed Diwali if you plan to celebrate.
Wow! so easy to make and such an unusual sweet treat! I'm hapy I found this recipe for ricotta cheese peda
I tried the ricotta cheese peda, and it turned out great! It was so easy to make, and the texture was perfect. This is definitely going to be a go-to for quick, delicious desserts.
I love cardamom! Such a great flavor. This recipe is really easy to make - thank you so much for sharing!
These are absolutely delicious! I love the smooth rich texture and that slightly sweet flavor. Yum!
I'd never heard of these sweets so I had to give them a whirl. I'm so glad I did! They were super tasty and I loved the addition of cardamom I am so glad I had some on my spice rack.
Love how easy these ricotta cheese peda look to make. We use a lot of ricotta here in Italy so I always have it in the fridge. Going to give these a try over the weekend.
Yes indeed Jacque , they are so easy to make and tastes really good .Hope you love them. Thank you so much for the comments.
I have never heard of them but they sound delicious!
I bet you will love these delicious pedas Larena .Thank you so much for the comments.
I do love Ricotta in every way I have tried it, and I'm sure I'd love it as a fudge. The cardamom must give a wonderful flavor and aroma to this dairy base.
This is a wonderful sweet dish Beth, very simple to make and tastes awesome . The cardamom gives a nice flavor and aroma to this peda indeed. Thank you so much!
I've never heard of peda before but if it has ricotta cheese in it, I can imagine that it would be a wonderful treat. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much Deborah, yes indeed ricotta cheese is the star ingredient and it almost tastes similar to a fudge.