Kathmandu Valley (Newar)
Juju Dhau
Thick, lightly sweetened yogurt from Bhaktapur, set in a clay pot
10 h·4 servings
Khuwa (reduced milk solids)
Whole milk slowly cooked down until only a firm, creamy mass remains, mildly sweet with a faint caramel note.
Khuwa, usually called khoa in India, is made by cooking whole milk in a wide pan, stirring constantly, until almost all the water has evaporated. What remains is an ivory to light brown mass that is soft and spreadable or firm and crumbly depending on how long it was cooked. It tastes of concentrated milk, sweetish with a light toasted note, and gives sweets body and a dense, slightly grainy texture. In Nepal and northern India it is the basis of many sweets and is also stirred into rich curries. It is sold fresh or frozen in Indian and Pakistani grocery stores; otherwise it can be made at home from whole milk, with about one litre yielding roughly 200 grams of khuwa.
Substitute:
Whole milk cooked down at home is not a substitute but the same thing, though it takes one to two hours of stirring. As a quick approximation, whole milk powder stirred in a pan with a little cream or ghee gives the milky richness, but it is smoother and has less of the toasted note. Ricotta cooked until dry comes close to the grainy texture but stays slightly tangier.
Used in · 1 recipe