Mysore pak is a popular and super delicious Indian sweet from the city of Mysore in the Karnataka state in South India. Mysore pak is made with only three ingredients - gram flour, ghee and sugar. It is rich, luxurious and melt in the mouth sweet.
Firstly measure all the 3 ingredients and set aside - sugar, gram flour and ghee.
Sieve the gram flour once or twice. This helps in reducing the lumps if any while mixing gram flour in the sugar syrup.
Grease a pan or tray with some ghee. Use a pan or tray which can give you some depth and height, so that you can get rectangular or square pieces.
Making sugar syrup
Now take the sugar in a heavy thick bottomed kadai. Since a lot of stirring happens, I would suggest you to use a heavy and large aluminium or iron kadai. Please do not use non stick pan as due to the heat and lot of stirring, the non stick coating can get affected.
Add ½ cup water in the sugar.
Keep the pan on the stove top. On a medium-low or medium flame, heat the sugar syrup.
Stir so that the sugar dissolves.
Melting Ghee
Meanwhile also take the ghee in another pan and keep it on stove top. Let the ghee melt on a low flame or sim.
The ghee has to be hot when we add it in the gram flour mixture. So let it be on a slow simmer.
Adding Gram Flour to Sugar Syrup
Let the sugar syrup start bubbling and boiling. We are not looking for one string consistency in the sugar syrup. Just let the sugar solution come to a boil and then add the gram flour.
Add the gram flour in three to four portions. First add some of the gram flour.
With a wired whisk, stir the gram flour briskly, so that it dissolves with the sugar solution.
With one hand using a spoon, add the gram flour and with the other hand mix it with a wired whisk.
Finish of all the gram flour this way.
Stir very well, so that the gram flour has got mixed evenly with the sugar syrup.
Adding Ghee
Then add ghee in parts. First add a ladle full of the hot ghee.
You will see a lot of bubbles and frothing in the gram flour mixture after you add ghee.
As soon as you add ghee, mix it with the gram flour with a spoon or spatula. Using a ladle, with one hand, add ghee and with the other hand mix it with a spatula.
Then add the second portion of ghee and again mix it very well. Keep the heat to a medium-low or medium.
This way finish off adding all the ghee in parts. Mix thoroughly.
Do use a bigger kadai and also some gloves on your hands, as there is a lot of sizzling, frothing and bubbling that happens.
Cooking Mysore Pak Mixture
All the ghee will be absorbed first and what you will see is a smooth molten gram flour mixture.
On a medium-low to medium heat with non-stop stirring cook the gram flour mixture.
You have to continue to cook and stir till you start seeing many bubbles in the mixture and the ghee is released from it. So continue to cook and stir. The mixture will also start to leave the sides of the kadai or pan.
While stirring also scrape the bottom of the kadai and the sides. If you do not scrape, then the mixture starts sticking and gets browned or burnt.
So you have to stir nonstop and scrape. Do use a flat steel spatula (palta) as this helps in scraping the gram flour mixture.
When the mixture comes together in one mass and you see some ghee at the sides, then also continue to stir and scrape.
When you see many small bubbles and holes in the mixture, then switch off the heat.
If you cook too much, then you will get a very hard mysore pak.
Setting Mysore Pak
Immediately and quickly tilt the kadai and pour the whole mixture in the pan. It falls in one lot and you don't need to use any spoon for it.
Level with a spatula or the back of small glass or a small steel bowl.
Let the mysore pak mixture become warm or cool down.
If there is too much ghee at the sides or top, then invert the pan after 20 to 30 minutes, so that the excess ghee is removed. You can use this ghee while preparing dosa or greasing idli plates.
Once warm or cooled, then just invert the pan on a chopping board or tray or plate. Tap the sides and the bottom of the pan. The mysore pak block falls of easily.
Then cut the mysore pak into rectangular or square pieces.
Store in an air-tight container. It stays good for about a week to ten days at room temperature.
Serve as a festive sweet to your family or friends.