How bilona ghee is made on our farm
Milk to curd, curd to makhan, makhan to ghee: the two days behind every jar, step by step.
What makes a thabdi peda brown
Three hours at the kadai: the slow cooking behind Rajkot’s favourite sweet.
A white peda and a thabdi peda start the same way, with milk and sugar in a wide iron kadai. The difference is time. A kesar peda is taken off the fire when the khoa is pale and soft. A thabdi peda keeps cooking, for close to three hours, until the milk sugars caramelise and the mixture turns the colour of strong tea.
The cook cannot leave it for a minute. Milk this thick catches easily, so it is stirred and scraped constantly with a flat iron khurpi. Halfway through, a little sugar and a spoon of curd are added, which gives thabdi its grainy, crumbly texture. Towards the end, a little of our ghee goes in and the whole kitchen smells of caramel.
The khoa is spread in a tray while warm, cooled, then broken and rolled by hand into pedas. Ours are not shaped in moulds, so no two look exactly alike.
Thabdi peda is a Saurashtra sweet, and Rajkot families are particular about it. Some like it nearly dry, others want a little moisture in the centre. We aim for the middle. It keeps for ten days at room temperature, which makes it the sweet most people send to relatives in other cities.
