Mysore Pak

The story of victory of good over evil is an age old story. It's timeless! It's just not the story of Lord Rama and Ravana, it's about the wolves inside us. Am sure you are wondering 'wolves?' A lot of us have heard this story, but just in case you have not.  A Cherokee tells his little grandson that every human has two wolves fighting inside them. One is Evil – It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

“The other is Good – It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.” 

It really is the essence of Diwali! The light of the lamp is such a strong symbol, with so much significance. It's such a beautiful story, every time am upset, hurt or angry, I narrate this story to myself :). As I light the divas (lamps) I hope for a brighter promising tomorrow...

Thanks for the Diwali greetings, am sorry have not been able to respond to some of you, but am going to as soon as am done writing up this post. 

A very Happy Diwali to all my readers! 

Recipe adapted  from : Vah Re Vah Chef 

1 1/2 cups Graham flour/ Besan 

1 1/4 cups ghee

3/4  cup oil 

2 cups sugar

(oil and ghee together should be about 2 cups)

1/2 cup water

That's it. You just have 3 ingredients, but why is Mysore pak so challenging? I think it is the technique, not the recipe. This is the first time I made Mysore Pak and I was really hoping to get a color variation. But this really is the soft version, where you do not see the colors as much, but it melts in the mouth. It surely does! If I had roasted for 30 sec or so more, I would have got the color variation and a crunchier Mysore Pak. Am not sure how mine did, on a scale of perfection, but for the first try I think I will give myself a pat on the back, and hopefully I make this more often to get the perfection it needs.

Make sure…

You have a pack of fresh besan/graham flour, it really is all about the quality of basan.

Make sure you keep everything ready and at arms length, there is no time once the flour is mixed in the sugar solution. 

 Heat the oil and then mix the ghee in the end, else you are going to burn the ghee by over heating

The whole process is done on medium-high flame, and it's really HOT. keep some paper towels handy. 

Making of Mysore Pak 

Heat oil, reduce the flame when it is hot. Mix besan/ gram flour with 4 tbsp of hot oil, mix with hands and sieve. Now, the besan will not form lumps with the sugar solution. 

 Take sugar in thick bottomed saucer. Add water and let it boil to form sugar syrup. After about 3-4 min, take a small amount between your thumb and index finger, join and separate the fingers, it should form a thin string. ( just one) - careful it's hot. 

Now add the ghee to the hot oil and increase the heat to medium. Keep an eye on it, the ghee should not burn, it has a low smoking point. If you think it's getting too hot, lower the flame. 

Add the flour slowly to the sugar syrup and mix rapidly so that no lumps are formed. as soon as it struts to bumble up,  start adding ghee-oil mix.

Keep the flour on medium - high heat. Add the hot ghee-oil mix to the flour, one ladle at a time, stirring continuously. Use up all the ghee-oil mix.  Cook till the mixture becomes frothy and ghee separates. The whole process should not take you more then 10-12 min.

Pour the mix in a cake tray : that is what I used, as you need that height. You don't need to grease the plate…all that ghee you put in there will come handy. 

Cut into squares when firm ! phew those 12 min does feel like a marathon, with so much action ;) But it was worth it ! 

Before I forget, Am planning to take a week to 10 days off from blogging. I have a lot of pending things I need to finish, I also want to finish reading a couple of books, am also planning to stay of social media, now let's see how that works! ;)