Mawa aka khoya is one of the most essential components of Indian desserts. Whether its Gulab jamun or peda, khoya recipe always provide richness, extraordinary taste and flavour to these sweets. When it comes to the point of getting it, most of the people buy it from outside. “But not anymore”. This instant mawa aka instant khoya recipe is prepared with only 3 basic ingredients and gets prepared within 5 minutes without using any fancy equipment. This instant mawa from milk powder looks exactly like market bought ones but tastes much better than that. Its slightly sweet in taste with a nutty flavour. Isn’t it great to prepare this necessary element instantly at home instead of spending money in markets!!
Table of Contents
About the recipe
How to make Mawa with milk powder (step wise photos)
Recipe Card
What is mawa?
Mawa is nothing but solidified milk which is prepared by reducing full fat milk in slow flame until the liquid gets evaporated. It is also known by different names as khoya or khoa. It is one of the necessary components of Indian sweet recipes including Bengali pithe-puli recipes.
Types of mawa
There are different types of mawa recipes that are easily available. First, it is divided as sweetened mawa and unsweetened mawa.
The sweetened mawa is used to prepare only sweets and desserts like Gulab jamun, barfi, kulfi, gujiya, mawa cake and many more.
On the other hand, the unsweetened version is used to prepare both sweet and savoury items like kofta, kachori, Kolkata biryani, mawa paneer masala etc.
Other than these, mawa recipe is also sub divided according to its texture.
Hard mawa: It is also known as batti khoya which is mostly used to prepare different types of ladoos, peda etc. or for sprinkling over sweets for garnishing.
Soft mawa: It is also popular as chikna mawa which is mostly used to prepare gulab jamun, koftas etc.
Though mawa recipe aka khoya recipe is one of the essential components, especially during festive season, when different varieties of sweets and savoury items are prepared at home. But its not easy to get good quality mawa everywhere. Specially for the people who stay outside the country like me. For us, the only option is to prepare mawa at home.
Now the mawa recipe aka khoya recipe can be prepared in two different ways. One by using the traditional method and another one is instant mawa from milk powder.
The traditional way of preparing mawa recipe is easy but very time consuming it. It takes around 2-6 hours depending on the quantity of milk. First you need to boil the milk and then by slow cooking in low flame you need to reduce the milk to almost 20-25%. The solidified version which remain after evaporating the liquid content is known as mawa or khoya. In this process, continuous stirring is absolute necessary to avoid any milk burns.
On the other hand, the instant mawa recipe is prepared with only 3 basic ingredients and it hardly takes 10 minutes to get ready. You can even prepare both the versions, hard mawa and soft mawa, instantly using the same ingredients. Just the proportion of the ingredients will vary. In this recipe, I have shared both the versions of instant mawa recipe.
Traditional way of preparing the mawa recipe is obviously the best. But in today’s world it is very difficult to manage time in the busy days to prepare this time-consuming recipe. This instant khoya from milk powder is the instant version of traditional mawa recipe which will provide almost same richness, taste and flavour. Even it will help you to prepare myriad sweet recipes very easily during festive season.
Honestly, it’s always fun to prepare instant mawa at home. It requires only 3 basic ingredients (powder milk, milk and ghee) which are easily available in any Indian kitchen pantry. The best part of the recipe is that it takes hardly 10 minutes to get prepared and can also be prepared in larger quantity without investing any extra time and effort. Isn’t is amazing to prepare the heart of many Indian sweets so easily and effortlessly???
USP of the instant mawa recipe
- It’s a 3-ingredient recipe
- Can be prepared instantly
- Can be refrigerated for a week
Instant mawa with step by step photos and instructions have been provided in the ‘Instruction’ section of the recipe. If you follow the step precisely then you will get perfect instant khoya recipe, even better than the ones available in market.
Ingredients for instant mawa
Milk powder: It provides body to the instant mawa aka instant khoya recipe. But always use full fat powder milk for the recipe. Now a days both sweetened and unsweetened powder milk is available in the market. You can pick either of them according to your choice.
Milk: It helps the powder milk to form the shape of mawa for both the versions – soft and hard. But always use full fat milk.
Ghee aka clarified butter: It provides richness and nutty aroma to the instant mawa recipe.
How to make mawa with milk powder?
As I have mentioned above , today I am going to share instant version of both soft mawa and hard mawa recipe with you. For both the recipes, we require just three basic ingredients- milk powder, milk and ghee aka clarified butter.
For hard mawa:
Put a pan on low flame and add milk and ghee, one by one into the pan. Let the mixture come to boil then turn off the flame. Transfer the mixture to a separate bowl and allow it to come to room temperature.
Then take milk powder into a bowl. Add the milk-ghee mixture slowly into it and mix it. Knead it to a chapati like dough. Make sure there are no lumps or dry milk powder in the dough. You can refrigerate it in an airtight container for around 5 days.
For soft mawa:
For the soft mawa aka chikna mawa, put a wide pan on flame. I always prefer to use heavy bottom non-stick pan for the recipe. Add milk and ghee, one by one into the pan and allow the mixture to boil thoroughly. Stir it on regular intervals. Then add the powder milk slowly into the pan and mix it quickly so that no lumps can occur. Cook the mixture until it thickens and the sides get separated from the pan. Then transfer the soft mawa to a separate plate to avoid further cooking and come to room temperature. After that, you can refrigerate it in an airtight container for around 7 days.
Many condiment recipes have already been shared in my previous posts. You can check some of them like
Chocolate syrup
Sweet tamarind sauce
Pulpy apricot sauce
Red chutney
Coriander-mint chutney
..And Many more…
Ingredients:
1 cup = 250 Grams
For hard mawa
- 1 cup Milk powder (Full fat)
- 3 tablespoons Milk (Full fat)
- 2 teaspoons Ghee aka clarified butter
For soft mawa
- 1 cup Milk powder (Full fat)
- ½ cup Milk (Full fat)
- 1½ tablespoons Ghee aka clarified butter
Instructions:
For hard mawa
- Put a pan on low flame and add 3 tablespoons milk and 2 teaspoons ghee, one by one into the pan. Let the mixture come to boil. Then turn off the flame.
- Transfer the mixture to a separate bowl and allow it to come to room temperature.
- Take 1 cup full fat milk powder into a bowl. Add the milk-ghee mixture (Step 2) slowly into it and mix it.
- Knead it with hand and make a chapati like dough. Make sure there are no lumps or dry milk powder in the dough. You can refrigerate it in an airtight container for around 5 days.
For soft mawa or chikna mawa
- Put a wide pan on flame. I always prefer to use heavy bottom non-stick pan for the recipe.
- Add ½ cup milk and 1½ tablespoons ghee, one by one into the pan and allow the mixture to boil thoroughly. Stir it on regular intervals.
- Add 1 cup powder milk slowly into the pan and mix it quickly so that no lumps can occur.
- Cook the mixture in medium flame until it thickens and the sides get separated from the pan. Stir continuously. It takes around 5-6 minutes to come to that texture.
- Transfer the soft mawa to a separate plate to avoid further cooking and let it come to room temperature. After that, you can refrigerate it in an airtight container for around 7 days.
How to use mawa?
Mawa or khoya is used to prepare both sweet and savoury items in Indian culinary like kofta, kachori, Kolkata biryani, mawa paneer masala etc. and in sweet items like Gulab jamun, barfi, kulfi, gujiya, mawa cake and many more. Use accordingly.
Ingredients
1 cup = 250 Grams
For hard mawa
-
1 cup Milk powder (Full fat)
-
3 tablespoons Milk (Full fat)
-
2 teaspoons Ghee aka clarified butter
For soft mawa
-
1 cup Milk powder (Full fat)
-
½ cup Milk (Full fat)
-
1½ tablespoons Ghee aka clarified butter
Instructions
For hard mawa
- Put a pan on low flame and add 3 tablespoons milk and 2 teaspoons ghee, one by one into the pan. Let the mixture come to boil. Then turn off the flame.
- Transfer the mixture to a separate bowl and allow it to come to room temperature.
- Take 1 cup full fat milk powder into a bowl. Add the milk-ghee mixture (Step 2) slowly into it and mix it.
- Knead it with hand and make a chapati like dough. Make sure there are no lumps or dry milk powder in the dough. You can refrigerate it in an airtight container for around 5 days.
For soft mawa or chikna mawa
- Put a wide pan on flame. I always prefer to use heavy bottom non-stick pan for the recipe.
- Add ½ cup milk and 1½ tablespoons ghee, one by one into the pan and allow the mixture to boil thoroughly. Stir it on regular intervals.
- Add 1 cup powder milk slowly into the pan and mix it quickly so that no lumps can occur.
- Cook the mixture in medium flame until it thickens and the sides get separated from the pan. Stir continuously. It takes around 5-6 minutes to come to that texture.
- Transfer the soft mawa to a separate plate to avoid further cooking and let it come to room temperature. After that, you can refrigerate it in an airtight container for around 7 days.
KITCHEN TOOLS for the recipe:
Measuring Spoons
Measuring Cups
