Mysore Pak

Mysore pak is a sweet dish of Karnataka. It is made of generous amounts of ghee, sugar & besan flour. It was first created in the kitchens of the Mysore Palace by a palace cook named Kakasura Madappa.

This sweet, when made with right quantity of ingredients & with the appropriate method, would instantly melt in the mouth. I always enjoyed eating it fresh when it was still little warm. Ajji & amma used to make it & pack it for us when we were to return back home from India. Even in my childhood ajji made & sent them for almost all festivals. I'd seen them spend hours together in the kitchen stirring the besan & ajji screaming at my mum or my athe to hold the greased plate ready to pour the pak mixture for cooling. Never wondered what all the screaming was for & never ever bothered to even once ask them for the recipe. Huh! Now I know how hard it is to prepare this sweet, which is famous for it's "difficulty" & "apt timing". I read a few blogs & watched few videos as well before trying it. I don't expect it to turn out excellent with my first trail. Nevertheless will give it a try with full concentration & determination.

I will be sending it for few events that are going on in the blogging world for Deepavali.

Ingredients:-

1 cup oil + ghee (1/2 cup oil + 1/2 cup ghee)

3/4th cup besan

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Method: -

1. Heat the ghee & oil mixture on low flame in a heavy bottomed pan.

2. Combine 2-3 tbsp of hot oil/ghee & besan. Mix well.

3. Sieve to remove lumps.

4. Grease a tray or a plate with ghee before starting the process.

5. In another heavy bottomed pan add sugar.

6. Add little water (Water to be added is approximately 1/4th the sugar quantity) & bring it to boil.

7. Let the sugar dissolve. Keep stirring continuously. Bubbles will be formed.

8. Allow the sugar syrup get the soft ball or one string consistency.

9. Now add the sieved flour slowly to the sugar syrup & stir continuously so that no lumps are formed.

10. Keep stirring after the besan addition in order to prevent it from getting burnt.

11. After a few minutes bubbles will form on the surface of the mixture. At this moment, add the hot oil/ghee with intervals of few minutes to the flour by stirring continuously after each addition. The oil/ghee has to be completely used.

12. Cook till the mixture becomes frothy, changes color & ghee separates.

13. Pour the frothy mixture on the greased tray/plate. Tap the tray/plate so that the paste spreads evenly.

14. Cut into desired shape after 10 minutes or so when it's still warm.

Points I noted while preparing: -

1. Hot oil is poured initially over the besan in order to prevent lumps formation & also to ensure that it cooks well later in the sugar syrup & oil/ghee.

2. Keep a cup of water ready while preparing the sugar syrup to check it's consistency.

3. When the sugar syrup starts to boil lot of bubbles are formed. These bubbles increase in number as the heating is prolonged. I was cooking on low flame.

4. These bubbles give the sweet the sponge like structure when done.

5. Add besan in batches. After each addition the froth increases. It's difficult to handle if besan is add all at once.

6. After adding the besan & when the mixture is still in the paste form with lota bubbles, transfer it to the cooling plate or tray. Else the mixture would become granular & the end product would not have fine layering inside.

I'm also sending this post to EFM Theme - Sweet.