What is mawa, khoya, mava?

Mawa, also known as Khoya, has a very special place in both savoury and sweet recipes in India. Easily available and prized for its soft grainy texture, mawa, a concentrated whole milk, with its rich nutty flavour is an important dairy product that can be made at home. Though a little tedious, it is the leftover of milk that has been boiling and reducing until it reaches a semi-solid stage. When partnered with milk and sugar, it takes on a life of its own. The use of ingredients and moisture content play a primary role in the type of mawa that forms. Originally Khoya emerges from Gujurat, but is today found in homes all across the country.

How to select mawa, khoya, mava

• Choose Khoya that is pale white in colour and firm to touch.

• Avoid, if there is any kind of black discolouration or any kind of fungal growth.

• Also, avoid purchasing if it smells sour.

Culinary Uses of mawa, khoya, mava in Indian Cooking

There are three types of mawa available, those are

1. Chikna mawa (also known as Gulab Jamun Mawa)- this type is really smooth and has the most amount of moisture in all the types and is mostly used to make Indian sweets like Gulab jamun or Gajar Ka Halwa

2. Danedar mawa – the texture of this mawa, as the name suggests, is crumbly and grainy. All those sweets that require such a texture like Kesar Pedas, use this type, which is also the most commonly used.

3. Batti mawa – this one has the least amount of moisture and is hard. Usually it is grated and used for various sweets like barfis like this Coconut Kesar Barfi.

Kala Gulab Jamun, one of our absolute favorites, is super sweet and made with Chikna Khoya to give it a smooth texture and dipped in sugar syrup. Even festivals celebrated with full vigor are incomplete without these sweets.

For instance Lavang Latika is made after Durga Puja, with a filling of mawa encased in maida, deep fried and then soaked in sugar syrup!

• Make small balls of mawa, flatten to place the coconut filling in and cover it into a neat ball. Smoothen it into a laddu by just rolling it over in your palm!

• Best of all Indian sweet treats, this milk based sweet is a classic made during festivals, mainly during Diwali.

• Mawa is the basis for many traditional Indian sweets, among them burfi, a treat similar to fudge. Decorate with ground pistachio nuts and the traditional edible silver leaves.

How to store mawa, khoya, mava

• Mawa can be stored in the deep freezer for a week to a fortnight.

Health benefits of mawa, khoya, mava

Mawa being a dairy product is a concentrated source of vitamin D and calcium - two nutrients essential for bone health. But mawa is high in calories. It is high in fat too as it is made with full fat milk. Further it is used in Indian cooking to make sweets, so it is loaded with sugar. This further adds on empty calories.

grated mawa

crumbled mawa

gulab jamun mawa

Also known as Soft Khoya, Hariyali Mawa or Chikna Mawa. Hariyali and Chikna mean squishy and slippery respectively, and these descriptions are used for this type of mawa because it contains 80 per cent moisture. To make hariyali mawa, reduction of milk is stopped a little earlier than for normal mawa. It is used in making rich gravies such as shahi ones, and to make gulab jamuns, which are prepared by deep-frying balls of hariyali mawa and soaking them in rose-flavoured sugar syrup.

crumbled gulab jamun mawa

Refers to the breaking of mawa into small piece with your hands. Take a small ball of mawa and press it with your fingers, you'll find that it crumbles easily under pressure into smaller bits. This is usually used to make mithais like gulab jamuns, mawa bati etc.