Khoya and granulated khoya

Khoya is milk which has been cooked down to a solid. The loss of volume is, of course, very large. The same 2 quarts of whole milk will produce 8 oz of khoya. So your end product will be an eighth of the original. After you have reached the rabadi stage, you merely continue cooking and reducing the milk over low heat, stirring constantly to prevent it sticking or burning. This should take between 15 and 20 additional minutes. As the milk reduces right down, it will sizzle with the last drops of moisture. Continue to stir until the sizzling stops. When it is at the stage of completion, the milk will be in a slightly sticky lump, with the consistency of soft pastry. Cool it and refrigerate. After refrigeration, it will lose its stickiness and have the consistency of fudge. In this form, it is used to make a whole variety of sweetmeats. Granulated khoya is also called danedar. It is made in the same way, except that when the milk first comes to the boil, tartaric acid (about ⅛ teaspoon to 1 pint of milk) or lemon juice (the juice of 1 lemon per pint of milk) is stirred in and the milk then separates into curds. The reduction process then continues in exactly the same way. Indian sweet-makers insist that the granulated khoya is used to make barfi, the deliciously creamy Indian toffee. Again, at a pinch, some cooks substitute powdered milk, stirred into a little whole milk, for the traditional khoya. If this is done, the proportion should be 6 tablespoons of powdered milk to 1½ tablespoons of liquid milk. The mixture is then cooked and stirred over low heat until it reaches the consistency of real khoya. (I have tried this and experimented using evaporated milk together with powdered milk. I found this combination to be closer to genuine khoya than any other short cut.) Incidentally, powdered milk is sometimes used instead of khoya to make gulab-jamuns.