Patiently making Peda (Peera) & Tea Spot Giveaway!
>> Saturday, 6 November 2010
Making Peda (Peera) - a soft fudge - from scratch is no simple task. It requires patience and determination, traits I felt I possessed but I did not know to what extent until I made Peda. This is not to say that at one point in the process I did not feel like tossing the pot into the sink, filling it with water, and giving up!
This week's column is a must-read in order to understand the three very different batches of Peda shown below and the result of the taste test done with 8 tasters! Read the column.
More Peda on the web:
Padma's Kitchen
Spice & Curry
Aayi's Recipes
Fun & Food Cafe
Ahaar
On to the giveaway.
Do you like tea? Want a chance to win some loose leaf tea and an infuser? Then read on.
By now, everyone knows about my obsession about all things tea related. Well, particularly tea infusers. After reading my most recent tea column - Sometimes 'why' is not important - Maria of Tea Spot emailed me with an offer that feeds right into that tea-infuser obession! She offered to send me a Tuffy (loose tea steeper)! I hit the reply button right away with a big thank you!
Look at my Tuffy! The great thing about it is that it is collapsible and portable enough to take with me whenever I travel. I can brew loose leaf tea on the go. Okay, maybe some people will look at me and shake their heads but I don't care. I love my Tuffy. I'm using it at home and when I am on the road.
Maria also sent me some loose leaf tea samples which I have been thoroughly enjoying. I am so excited about Tea Spot and their products (I am not being paid to say that), that I wrote asking Maria if Tea Spot would be interested in doing a giveaway on my blog and she said yes! I know that many of you are big tea lovers so I wanted to give you the opportunity to enjoy some of the products too.
What I like about Tea Spot is that apart from having a range of tea infuser options and loose leaf tea, they actually design and manufacture all their tea ware and they do so focusing on positive environmental and ethical practices.
Here's how simple the giveaway will be. Just leave a comment on this post saying how you like your tea and what's your favourite time of the day to have a cuppa. That's it!
THE PRIZE
The winner will receive from Tea Spot - a Tuffy Steeper and 3 cans of loose leaf tea. You get to pick the three cans cans of tea you'd like.
The promotion will run from today (Saturday, Nov 6) to Wednesday, November 17 at midnight US Eastern Standard Time. All the names will be entered into Random Number Generator and the winner will be selected. As a bonus, if you sign up to receive my column by email, your name will be entered twice!
Unfortunately, the giveaway is only open to those living in the USA and Canada. Sorry for any disappointment.
Here are 3 general tips for brewing loose tea. Of course, each culture has their own way of doing things.
- Your tea infuser should be big enough to allow your tea leaves ample room to open up in flavour and aroma. The ideal material for a steeper is ceramic or glass.
- Use the right temperature for the tea leaf (too high can cause it to become bitter, too low and you can extract too little flavour).
- Steep your tea for the right length of time recommended (too much and it becomes bitter, too little and there is not enough body to it.
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58 comments:
Those looks so pretty and delicious! I love that invention. A great giveaway.
Cheers,
Rosa
WOW! That is one... sorry three YUM looking batches of peda! You are really patient :-)
I like my tea strong, HOT and milky! I MUST have tea in the morning and evening - a habit that I can skip if I am travelling but at home it is a must. Can the tea infuser be used with indian chai too?
Great giveaway!
Hi Cynthia ... hard work paid off well. And you know what , the peda no. 1 is a classic from Banaras ( my home town ) n is called laal peda ( red peda) , usually a mix of nuts and misri ( crystallized sugar ) is used as topping as you have used the crushed pistachio in the peda no. 2.
This brown peda is famous from Mathura too ( the birth place of Krishna ) but the Mathura peda is a bit lighter in color as there is less sugar in that.
Great attempt ...loved this post . And yes...i have slaved the stove for peda a few times and have made quick versions too but the taste is different of course...
I am really awed by your patience. I can't imagine myself tryng it more than once at a time.
I love peda, and infact I grew up eating the Brindavan/Mathura ka Peda (the birthplace of Krishna) as we had relatives who would send us or get them when they visited us in Delhi. I used to love them. Not having been fond of Delhi sweets (except for Gulab jamun and Jalebi, if you know what I am talking about) they were always a welcome change.
You have brought back those fond memories of my childhood. :-)
I love that pale white colour of your 3rd batch of peda and I think you have done an amazing job at it.
Although, I must say that I know of the mathura ka peda as being quite dark in colour.
They look delicious! I've never heard of peda before, but am glad you made it (and took photos).
I love having tea in the afternoon, as a little pick me up. My go-to tea is usually Earl Grey, but I do love sencha and all its varients (genmaicha, hojicha, etc.).
We, cooks of the world salute to you.
Your writing, as good as your cooking. Cheers,
I like my chai tea brewed strong as a good morning pick-me-up!
Oh Cynthis! The first pedha/ peds looks like a 'Mathura ka Pedha' which I LOVE! Hats off to u for making these beauties!
No way Cynthia, that required mountains of patience and arm strength.
I prefer the darker colored peda than the pure white ones. Back home, the lightly almond colored is considered pure milk whereas the pure white one is thought of to have maida (or all purpose flour) added and that perhaps colors my preference.
It seems like forever since I've been over to your page... and first time back, I find quite a treat!
I love a cup of Rooibos tea at night with a little honey or a little bit of vanilla sugar. Really nice way to end the day.
Me too, enjoys infusing tea leaves in the infuser and usually my preferred time to have tea is between 10am-12pm!
How fitting to have Peera as your featured post this Deepavali weekend!! That said, I love Peera.....WHEN SOMEONE ELSE MAKES IT!! #3 brings back many, many fond memories of the numerous Indian holidays when my schoolmates would invite me to their homes and share so many variety of sweets....YUM
A hot cup of fresh mint tea or some PG Tips on a COLD DAY...Heaven!!
Hi Cynthia!
Peda looks delicious. Its mouth watering. lovely post. Keep it up. giveaway is a very thoughtful gift.
Wish i could grab one of thise delicious looking peda. I have never made them and reading that it takes time i am sure i gonna not make them.
I have to say i drink my tea black with no sugar and with tea leaves no tea bags for me. And when i am in a special mood i throw in some spices to have spice Indian tea.
That looks like a great little gadget! I love tea any time of day, it always gives me the calming feeling I need!
So sorry for lack of content - very busy these days, but doing so well :))) We must catch up! Hope you are well too.
What a neat little gadget!
Hey I made peda's too recently. But I cheated and used ricotta cheese instead of slaving over the stove to make khoya ;) Yours look delicious!
Hey Cynthia, your peda looks like such a great tea time treat!
Oh, and I like my tea around 4ish in the afternoon-usually a gunpowder green with spearmint or just black tea with milk;-)
hi
Cynthia
I know I cannot be a part of this giveaway although I would love love to be a part and get this giveaway....
But I might as well comment, I love tea and Have written about it very often , I love to have my tea in different types of mug for the different time of the day and also for a different mood it creates...
In India most of the households brew by boiling loose tea leaves in boiling water and then adding milk and sugar to it...
I love such tea and the best time is my mid-morning tea which i normally have after finishing off the major part of my morning chores . This cup of tea really relaxes me and makes me good enough for the rest of the morning...
bye
I have never had peda but all of yours look delicious. I love to have my tea in the afternoon with a cookie or biscuit. yummmm
I love drinking all kinds of tea, mostly in the evening to relax and unwind and when it is rainy outside. My favorite loose tea is ahmad ceylon, spiced with cardamom and another one with mint.
Sometimes I add honey, but I usually take my tea plain. I would drink the lose tea more often, if i could get hold of such a great little gadget.Who knows??
I always learn something new when I come here - thanks again Cynthia!
Cynthia,
These looks so delicious and I bet I wont be able to stop on just one.Amazing job here.Thanks for the mention, going to read your column now :-)..Hugs and smiles
Love that tea infuser and its color! as well as the peda photos above. Impressive.
Wish you and your family a very happy Deepavali !
Wish you and your family a very happy Deepavali !
My favorite tea is the 'Lasa Lamsa' tea. I wonder if you know about this tea or not. But I really recommend you try it once.
The gadget looks great. I would really love to own it.
gorgeous looking treats...looking forward to trying peda :)
"It requires patient and determination"..gush..I think I can't do it...
first time hearing about this peda ,cool give away :)
wow peda...ive never heard of it until now! looks so delicious though! :)
that giveaway is awesome - too bad im not eligible! hehe
Hello Cynthia I love Tea every time in every season and I collect Teapot are adorables! I love peda! xx gloria
Lovely giveaway!
Great to learn about peda, all three batches look wonderful! And that tea steeper looks so neat, what a great giveaway!
Beware of plastic tea infusers. Cotton fabric bags are the best. Think about what is seeping into your tea when the hot water hits the plactic. All that glitters is not gold.
How I like my tea depends a lot on what kind of tea I'm having, but in general I like it plain and hot. My favourite time of day to have some is in the morning.
ikkinlala AT yahoo DOT ca
I think I like the brown and the cream coloured ones equally :)
I doubt I have the patience for anything even close... but I may surprise myself. :)
Kudos to you!
Hot, strong tea with milk on a rainy afternoon with a plate of pakodas. That is the way I love my cuppa.
not surprisingly, since Trinis seem to have mixed up lots of our sweet names...this is not what we call peera :-) our peera is a drier, harder, white sweet made from either ground rice or flour, which I like because it tends not to be very sweet.
This, particularly the darker incarnation looks very interesting!
This is my first time in knowing about Peda or Peera. Is that supposed to be soft? They look like cute little buns.
Peeda is one thing I know I won't ever make! I got tired just reading your post:) my admiration for you keeps growing.
About tea: A year ago I changed from coffee to tea, it's been a wonderful discovery, I'm quite a fan of green tea for breakfast and after lunch, at five o'clock I go for Lapsang Souchong, Orange Pekoe or homemade Chai with milk and sucralose, no supper needed after this.
I would love that giveaway hehe, love your tea obsession :)
Peda is something I've never tried before but it looks YUM
Wow mouth-watering pic.I just loved that Lalpedas yummm
Pedas look so good and I agree it takes a lot of time slaving over the stove to make it.
I like my tea very hot and very strong,cant drink a weak tea and I like it in the evening with some biscuits.
I love my tea warm, with lemon and sugar :) I like it best in the evening before bed, it helps me relax!
I drink tea all day long when the weather gets cool. My favorite is Organic Black Tea (NOT Earl Grey) with skim milk - organic. I have a small business and meet a lot of clients and prospective clients at coffee shops. Tea and shortbread is my favorite.
Later in the afternoon I switch to Green Tea because it has a lot less caffeine. No milk.
In the evening it's usually herbal teas. Lately my favorites have been a Strawberry tea and an Apple Spice tea.
This gadget looks brilliant. I have a couple of those mesh tea balls and they're messy and not convenient. Would love one of these.
i love what we call bush tea (so the steeper will come in handy for me), i pick fresh basil leaves and lemon grass and occasionally mint from my porch container garden.
Anytime of day is a great time for a cuppa tea!!!
Delicious looking pedas. I especially like the first batch of brown pedas.
I drink my chai every morning - loose leaf assam tea with milk and tea masala, which I make from cardamom, cinnamon and a pinch of ginger. Yummmmm!!! I currently use a strainer to remove the leaves - love the infuser!
I like my tea very hot and strong with milk.
I love to have black tea with milk. It must be hot and strong and slightly sweet. My fav is a loose-leaf vanilla black tea fragranced with jasmine. Perfect with french vanilla cream....yum! I usually have my tea at 11am and again at 3pm when I usually experience writer's block LOL!
I like my tea with milk and green cardamom. The flavour is so nice after a long day... after work.
This is such a unique tea infuser, Claudia! Wonderful give away.
I love a cup of herb tea after dinner. I like spicy blends such as Chai served with milk, no sugar :)
I just read your column about making peda - loved it and your analysis of the methods. The difference constant stirring can make is amazing.
Hi Cynthia,
How have you been? I hope all is well with you.
I am here right on time for this awesome giveaway as I am a tea-fanatic & that tea infuser looks so sexy. I drink tea mostly between 2-4 pm everyday as that's when my brain stops working and I start feeling sleepy.
I would love to subscribe to your columns as-and-when-they-are-published, but I didn't see any email subscription option. :-(
Hugs,
Siri
Oh, those Pedas look gorgeous. Your hard work really paid off. :)
Siri
Hi there. Loved your pera article.
I've never seen or heard of it done your way before, but it sounds very interesting although time consuming.
I make pera quite a bit, and I found the easiest way is to bring to a medium boil one cup of evaporated milk (full evaporated or 2% evaporated) and then add 1.5 cups of sugar (mine is a 1:1.5 ratio recipe)
Then with the heat slightly (very slightly) above medium, I let it cook until it starts to thicken and get golden. Then I stir constantly for about 10 minutes until you can see bubbles forming around the sides of your pot. Take it off the stove and let it cool slightly, just enough to roll by hand, or pour into a square tray.
This usually takes me no more than 25 minutes to do and the result is very smooth.
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