Mysore Pak Recipe

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups/200 to 210 grams sugar
• 1 cup/100 grams gram flour (besan)
• 1 cup/200 to 210 grams ghee (clarified butter)
• ½ cup water

Steps

Preparation

1. Measure the 3 ingredients—sugar, gram flour and ghee—and put them aside.
2. Sift the gram flour once or twice to reduce any lumps when it mixes with the sugar syrup.
3. Coat a pan or tray with some ghee, choosing one with enough depth and height to form rectangular or square pieces.

Making Sugar Syrup

1. Put the sugar in a heavy, thick-bottomed kadai. A large, heavy aluminium or iron kadai suits the extensive stirring; avoid a nonstick pan because the heat and stirring can affect its coating.
2. Pour ½ cup water into the sugar.
3. Set the pan on the stove and heat the syrup over medium-low or medium heat.
4. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Melting Ghee

1. Meanwhile, put the ghee in another pan on the stove and melt it over low heat or sim.
2. Keep the ghee at a slow simmer so it is hot when added to the gram-flour mixture.

Adding Gram Flour To Sugar Syrup

1. Let the syrup bubble and reach a boil; no one-string consistency is needed. Add the gram flour once the solution boils.
2. Add the gram flour in three to four portions, starting with some of it.
3. Stir briskly with a wired whisk to dissolve the flour into the sugar solution.
4. Use a spoon in one hand to add flour while the other hand mixes with a wired whisk.
5. Continue this way until all the gram flour has been added.
6. Mix thoroughly to distribute the gram flour evenly through the syrup.

Adding Ghee

1. Start adding the ghee in portions, beginning with a ladleful of hot ghee.
2. Expect plenty of bubbles and froth in the gram-flour mixture when the ghee goes in.
3. Immediately mix in the added ghee with a spoon or spatula. Add ghee with a ladle in one hand while mixing with a spatula in the other.
4. Mix the second portion of ghee in thoroughly, keeping the heat medium-low or medium.
5. Add all the remaining ghee in portions this way, mixing thoroughly.
6. Use a bigger kadai and wear gloves on your hands because the mixture sizzles, froths and bubbles a great deal.

Cooking Mysore Pak Mixture

1. At first the ghee will all absorb, leaving a smooth, molten gram-flour mixture.
2. Cook over medium-low to medium heat, stirring without stopping.
3. Continue cooking and stirring until many bubbles appear and ghee releases; the mixture also starts leaving the kadai or pan sides.
4. Scrape the bottom and sides as you stir, since otherwise the mixture sticks and browns or burns.
5. Keep stirring and scraping continuously with a flat steel spatula (palta), which helps scrape the gram-flour mixture.
6. Even when it gathers into one mass with some ghee at the sides, continue stirring and scraping.
7. Switch off the heat once many small bubbles and holes appear in the mixture.
8. Overcooking will make the Mysore Pak very hard.

Setting Mysore Pak

1. Immediately tilt the kadai and quickly pour all the mixture into the pan. It drops in one mass without needing a spoon.
2. Smooth the surface with a spatula, the back of a small glass or a small steel bowl.
3. Leave the mixture until warm or cooled.
4. If excess ghee collects on top or at the sides, invert the pan after 20 to 30 minutes to remove it. That ghee can be used for dosa or to grease idli plates.
5. Once warm or cool, invert onto a chopping board, tray or plate. Tap the pan's sides and bottom to release the block easily.
6. Cut into rectangular or square Mysore Pak pieces.
7. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature, where it stays good for about a week to ten days.
8. Serve this festive sweet to family or friends.