Today a delight awaits for the residents at Vikhroli for there is a live demonstration of cooking being done at Home Stop using my WONDERCHEF range of bakeware and cookware. The timings are 5 pm to 7 pm and my colleague Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi will show you how to make cakes, pizzas and biryanis using his own flamboyant style.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the launch function of my new set of books named KITCHEN LIBRARY VEGETARIAN COLLECTION at Korum Mall in Thane. Soon it will be available at www.sanjeevkapoor.com. In this Vegetarian Collection comprising of five volumes, I have a banquet of delicious vegetarian Indian and international foods ranging from the everyday to the exotic, from heritage fare to the hot and happening. All these books will help to make every meal a gourmet’s delight with tried and tested recipes from our kitchens!
I get a lot of enquiries from food lovers settled outside India about what they can use as substitute for khoya in mithai. I can only suggest the options of condensed milk and/or milk powder.

Well, I guess, staying in India makes us lucky as we get readymade khoya! If one wishes khoya can be made at home. Just be prepared to burn a lot of gas and have patience. It is easier said than done. Khoya can be made at home, though the method is little tedious. It is prepared by boiling and reducing the milk to a semi-solid stage. The milk is to be boiled in a large kadai on a high heat and stirred occasionally. The heat is reduced as the milk thickens. When the mixture is in a semi-solid stage it is removed from the heat and set into moulds.

There are different types of khoya depending on the use of ingredients and moisture content. When you use full cream buffalo milk to make khoya, every litre of milk yields 200 grams. This khoya is used in burfis and laddoos. There is a different khoya that is made with low fat buffalo milk. The process of making it is the same as shown above but it is removed from the heat slightly earlier. It is loose and sticky in consistency with higher moisture content. It is suitable for making gulab-jamuns and gajar ka halwa. The dandedaar khoya which is excellent for kalakand is also made from full cream buffalo milk. The difference is that khoya is curdled slightly by adding a little tartaric acid. The milk curdles slightly hence the khoya is soft textured.

Let’s look at some recipes that use khoya:

Ananas ka meetha
Mawa Roll
Mawa Cake

Have a happy sweet weekend.
Sanjeev Kapoor.