Warm 2 tablespoons of milk, and soak a pinch of saffron, keeping some aside for garnish later. Keep aside. Please note that the saffron needs to be soaked for at least an hour. In case it has not been done, the Peda wouldn’t have the desired yellow/saffron color.
Heat ghee in a in a vessel. Non-stick vessel is highly preferred. Keep the flame on medium throughout the cooking process.
Add ricotta cheese and stir. Make sure you constantly stir the cheese, such that it doesn’t stick to the vessel. Cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until the moisture evaporates.
Add sugar. The quantity of sugar I have mentioned gives medium sweetness. If you want it more on the sweeter side, use more sugar, as desired.Make sure you are continuously stirring the ingredients.
Add the condensed milk as well as milk powder and cook until the moisture starts leaving the sides of the vessel. This should take about 20 minutes. Do not overcook, or it might become dry. The mixture will become bit stiffer once it cools down. So make a judgement call as to when to stop cooking it further. Turn off the heat. Add cardamom powder and rose water, mix well.
Let the mixture cool down a bit. Then divide the mixture into 3 portions. This step is for giving it the Ombre shades. Keep one portion as is, which would be white in color.
Either add a pinch of yellow/orange color or ⅓ of the soaked saffron color in the second portion.
Add double the pinch of yellow/orange color or ⅔ of the soaked saffron color in the third portion.
Basically, the three portions should be distinctly different in colors to give the ombre effect. You can accomplish that either by just using saffron mixture or by adding food color. I used both. If using food color, also do use the saffron mixture in the second and 3rd portion for incorporating the saffron flavor in pedas.
The way you make pedas is, apply ghee to your palms, and knead the 3 portions individually like a dough to make it really smooth. Make it into desired sized balls, flatten the balls a bit and apply chopped pistachio on top of each. Press it a bit, for the pistachio powder to set. Garnish with the remaining saffron. Arrange it in lighter to darker shade to give the ombre effect on a platter.
Enjoy it warm, or put it in refrigerator for a bit before eating to enjoy it cold.