Sindhi Cuisine ~ Majoon for ICC

Majoon - a Sindhi delicacy from Mrs. Sabnani's blog has been this month's Indian Cooking Challenge theme. I kept contemplating until the end to go with it or not since it is a calorie laden sweet dish and only two of us at home like sweet stuff. I so enquired my son actually showed the recipe to my son and asked him whether he would like to have it. I started making it only after he assured me that he would try it. :)
Vaishaliji mentions that majoon is a winter special dish. Sindhis usually prepare it in bulk quantities and store it to last thru the winter months. It can be stored for up to six months if it doesn't come in contact with any trace of moisture. It is served as breakfast in small quantities, each day during winter. :) And newly wed daughters and married daughters receive it from their mothers during this season. 
This dish is simple in terms of preparation but takes longer since the milk and other ingredients have to reduce to a solid mass. And majoon is like embellished paalkova. It tastes fabulous as it's SouthIndian counterpart but is full of other yummy additions like poppy seeds and nuts.
I usually pick a time to cook dishes of this nature when I need to take care of things in the kitchen so that I can keep an eye on the dish instead of constantly hovering over it. This time I was cleaning in the kitchen and helping my daughter with her homework while the dish almost took care of itself. It was a lot easier since I cooked the whole time on simmer mode and didn't have to check quite often.

Ingredients: (Make about 1 & 1/4 cups)
2 cups milk (I used a cup of each - full fat milk and skim milk.)
6 Tbsp sugar (I like my sweet dishes not overtly sweet. Sugar quantity can be increased if more sweetness preferred.)
1/2 cup khoya (Another half cup can be added if preferred.)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds / khus khus
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
10 dried dates - coarsely chopped (I added pitted dates.)
3/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts - almonds, pistachios and cashews (I just pulsed them in food processor. Vaishaliji has mentioned to avoid walnuts if preparing the majoon in larger quantities.)
3 Tbsp ghee (I omitted it and still found the dish to be rich.)

Method:
When I have to deal with milk dishes and the recipe involves simmering and stirring for longer times, I usually go with a non stick saucepan. It makes the cooking job a hell lot easier and after cleanup is a cinch.
Heat milk in a nonstick pan and when it starts to boil, add everything except nuts. Cook on slow flame until it reduces to half the original quantity. Leave a spoon or a ladle in the pan so that the milk would not boil over (and so automatically your time to babysit that dish is considerably reduced. :)) Then add the nuts and ghee into the mixture and stir well. Continue to cook until the mixture turns into a thick mass and ghee starts floating over the surface.

How to serve:
Heat about  2 - 4 Tbsp of majoon with 2 tsp of milk in a microwave and serve piping hot.

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