Deepavali 2011 Contd. - Sweet - Ghee Mysore Pak

Mysore Pak - a regular feature in South Indian weddings and definitely in the Deepavali menu - a brick like sweet and a tricky recipe which if you mess up, you could easily end up with your own personal weapon! Now, when I say brick-like, I mean the look and even the consistency of the traditional mysore pak. But all that changed when the famous Sri Krishna Sweets aka SKS came along! I know a lot of people, including me, who never liked this sweet until SKS came out with their ghee mysore pak. A super soft, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth treat full of ghee, so much ghee that after a few nibbles you start to feel guilty. I would never dare to try the traditional recipe and I don't think I want to make the SKS version either but I found the perfect recipe on Sharmis Passions recently. She doesn't use too much ghee so I would assume it isn't loaded with as many calories and it is very easy to make, you gotta try this! I am sure her pictures will make you wanna try this recipe for sure :)

Ghee Mysore Pak
Adapted from Sharmis Passions

Besan/Kadalai Maavu/Gram flour - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 cup (break this down to 3/4th cup and 1/4 cup)
Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 3/4 cup (the original recipe uses 1/4th cup but as I type now, I realize I used 3/4th cup by mistake but turns out, it didn't affect the taste or the softness. Well, I don't know what I want to say to that now but the next time, I will make sure to try 1/4th cup and will probably update my post with some notes/comments!)

In a non stick pan, heat a tsp of ghee, add the besan and roast till you smell a nice aroma and the flour sightly starts to change color. This should take about 5 minutes. Remove from fire and sieve the flour into a bowl and mix in 3/4th cup of ghee, this will make a loose paste. Set this aside and also prepare a greased plate. The size of the plate depends on how thin/thick you want your cakes to be.

In a non stick pan, add the sugar and water and let it boil to a one string consistency which means, when you test the syrup between your thumb and index finger it forms a single string. I used my kitchen thermometer and on medium flame, the one-string happened close to/after 220 deg. Now add the besan-ghee paste and add a little bit of the ghee (the 1/4th cup you saved). Bring the flame down to "Lo" or "1" and continue to stir, adding the remaining ghee in frequent intervals. You will keep stirring till all the ghee is absorbed and the mixture is not too runny/sticky but still in a pour-able consistency. This is about 5-10 minutes of stirring. You can also tell by testing the paste stuck to the ladle, it will go from dripping quickly to falling off a little less easily.

When done, pour the mixture to the greased plate. Within a minute you should be able to make the markings for diamond or square shaped cakes. Let it sit for another 5 minutes and you should be able to cut the pieces out.