Making mawa from milk powder

Mawa or khoya is the result of removing all the water content from milk.  The halwai still undergo this strenuous process of making mawa with milk in huge kadahis over high flame. He continuously stirs it with a huge ladle to prevent scorching the milk. The milk soon starts getting thickened and after some time it becomes a solid mass. This process involves a long time and an easier version to make mawa is from whole milk powder.  There are many ways of making mawa from milk powder.  I have tried many methods from making a soft dough of milk powder and steaming it, making a dough and freezing it. This time, I am using the pan method of making mawa.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk powder

1/4 cup cream

Method:

Put milk powder and cream in a pan and heat it over medium heat.

The mixture first becomes gooey but gradually turns into a soft mass.

At this stage, switch off the heat. Cool.
This mawa can be used for making burfis, gulab jamuns or putting in halwa.

My notes:
Use full fat milk powder for making mawa. 

If you want mawa with more fat content, then use 1/2 cup of cream.  I have used the cream / malai from the top of boiled milk. 

Lavang latika

This Bengali sweet makes me drooling at its name.  A visit to Hauz Khas or Chandni Chowk in Delhi is never complete without a visit to Annapoorna.
It gets its name from lavang which means clove and is inserted to seal the folds. This also imparts the flavor of clove on frying.  I could not however, get the Annapoorna flavor but analysed the sweet closely this time eating it slowly and trying to get hold of all its flavors.
I used to put saffron, almonds to the khoya mixture earlier but I noticed that adding nutmeg gives it a wonderful flavor.


Ingredients:
For the outer shell:
2 cups maida/ all purpose flour
4 tbsp melted ghee
1/2 tsp baking powder

Filling:
1 cup mawa or khoya
1 tsp nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp mace powder
a pinch of clove powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

For the sugar syrup:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp of lemon juice

Method:
Sieve flour with baking powder and rub in ghee.


















Add hot water a little at a time to make it into a soft dough.

let it rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling.
To mawa , add nutmeg, mace, clove powder and cardamom powder. Mix properly to make a homogenous mixture.

Make a sugar syrup by adding sugar and water and give it a boil. Add lemon juice if desired.

Now, knead the dough to make it soft and pliable.
Take golf sized dough, roll and put a spoonful of filling in the center.

Fold in by bringing the sides down and overlapping one over other,  Press them slightly.

Get hold of another fold and cover the earlier one.
Seal the folds by inserting a clove.

Press the lavang latika slightly to remove any air trapped inside.

Heat ghee and fry in medium heat till evenly browned.

Dip in hot syrup, leaving them for some time.  Take them out and cool.

Finally, they are there to devour, I can't wait to eat them.

My notes:

• I do not add any sugar to mawa mixture. The sugar caramelizes while frying and makes the filling hard.
• Adding lemon juice prevents sugar syrup crystallize. You can avoid adding lemon juice. I prefer my lavang latika to have a shiny appearance. 
• Kneading with hot water makes the dough much soft.