In India, the king of fruits, mango is the most welcoming fruit of the year. While staying in US, I missed it a lot until I developed the taste for Mexican mangoes which are often of two varieties – the red Ataulfo and the the yellow Manila mangoes. We also get canned kesar mango puree here. But I prefer fresh than canned.

So why not take advantage of the season and this time of the year to make something pleasantly delicious Mango sweet. This time I combined the peaches pulp too to make it richer and dense in color. Also since the peaches are sweet and if the mangoes too are sweet , you can skip the sugar added while preparing this sweet.

Pedha is a traditional Indian sweet which is prepared from milk or milk-based products. I have used milk powder and milk ,but you may use condensed milk or ricotta cheese or mawa too to make this sweet. The denser base you use, the easier and less time consuming will its preparation get.
If you are using condensed milk replace 1.25 cups of milk with 3/4 cups of condensed milk. If you are using ricotta cheese replace 1.25 cup of milk with 1 cup of ricotta cheese. If you are using khoya or mawa , replace both milk powder and milk with 1 cup grated mawa. The basic method is to heat the mango puree,peach puree and milk products to form a solid mawa kind of dough. When this mix is cooked well enough just before the mixture turns into solid mass, add the sugar , coconut powder, cardamom powder etc to reach the final stage. This sweet is soft from inside and smooth from outside. The texture should not be very sticky or very dry.

Keeping in mind the above points, lets proceed to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
1. Milk – 1.5 cups
2. Milk Powder (Non-fat/ Full-fat) – 1 cup
3. Sugar – 1/4 cup or to taste
4. Shredded coconut powder – 1/2 cup
5. Mango puree (2 mangoes sliced and scooped)- 1 cup
6. Peach puree ( 2 peached peeled,pitted, sliced ) – 0.5 cup
7. Clarified butter (ghee) – 3 tsp
8. Sliced pistachios (garnish) – 10 to 12
9. Saffron strands (kesar)- 10 to 12
10.Cardamom powder (pisi Elaitchi) – 1 tsp

METHOD:
| Preparation time : 3 mins | Cooking time : 30-40 mins | Makes 25 medium size pedhas |

1. Slice mangoes, peaches and make puree out of them in a food processor or a blender together.

2. Add this fruits puree to a wok and turn on the heat at medium.



3. In the meanwhile, prepare a slurry with the milk , ghee and milk powder. Warm the milk and ghee and mix them together well with a whisk/spoon. Here save a tsp of warm milk for soaking saffron strands.



4. Next add the milk powder in parts to form a smooth paste kind of slurry.



5. After cooking the fruits puree for 3-4 mins ,when you see it has thickened, add the slurry paste and start cooking the mix on low to medium heat.




6. Keep stirring or the mixture might stick to the bottom and sides of the wok(kadhai). In the meanwhile chop the pistachios and keep aside.



7. Reduce the heat when you see it bubbling heavily and cover it partially to avoid the splatter around.


8. When it has thickened to a rabri kind of consistency or condensed milk type of consistency,then add sugar according to your taste.It will take 20 mins to reach this stage.

9. After adding sugar, you will see it will ooze out some moisture in the mix. So to absorb that extra moisture add the coconut powder and keep stirring.



10. Cook it on low heat for 15 more mins stirring continuously till it forms a dough which moves with the spatula.Also add kesar soaked in 2 tsp milk and cardamom powder at this stage. Don’t let it dry in the wok or it will turn hard and dry from outside.




11. Turn off the heat and spread it in a greased (applied ghee) thali (platter) to let it cool for 15 mins.



12. When its cool to touch, grease your hands with ghee or roll the dough in the platter’s ghee.


13. Now pinch some portion and roll them between your palms. Press them gently to make the pedha shape.


14. Make a dent in the center and garnish it with sliced pistachios. Relish them fresh or store them in refrigerator for a week.


These fresh, refreshing pedhas are an energy booster, and a sweet break in these summers.


If you like the recipe, please try it and comment below. Your suggestions and feedback are welcome ! 😀