Traditional Mysore Pak

Mysore Pak, often called the 'King of Indian sweets,' is a rich, melt-in-your-mouth delicacy that originated in the royal kitchens of Mysore Palace. This iconic sweet, with its characteristic ghee-soaked texture and besan flavor, represents the pinnacle of South Indian confectionery.

The story of Mysore Pak dates back to the reign of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV (1902-1940). The palace cook, Kakasura Madappa, created this delicacy while experimenting with gram flour, ghee, and sugar. When the king tasted and loved it, he requested its name. The humble cook simply called it "Mysore Pak" (Pak meaning sweet), and thus was born one of India's most celebrated sweets.

The key to exceptional Mysore Pak lies in three elements:

• Quality of ingredients
• Temperature control
• Precise timing

Mysore Pak remains an integral part of festival celebrations,wedding feasts, religious offerings and traditional gift-giving

Making sweets is a tricky task and making mysore pak also needs some patience. If you are starting to do mysore pak in a traditional way, keep your mobiles away and do not attend any calls in between I am sharing the way I make mysore pak at home. This is the method which my mother does and I have followed the same method.

Ingredients:

• Besan flour - 1 cup
• Sugar - 2 cups
• Ghee - 2 cups
• Water - ½ cup

Method:

• In a pan heat 1 tablespoon of ghee and fry besan till you get nice aroma in a medium flame and remove and cool. Do not burn the besan.
• Heat ghee in a pan and keep aside.
• In another heavy bottomed pan, add sugar and water and heat well. Heat till you get soft ball consistency. That is, take little water in a small cup. In that add some syrup and if you rool it will roll like a ball and when you take out the ball will break.
• Now immediately sprinkle the flour and mix well without forming lumps. Mix vigorously.
• In the meantime, take a plate and grease with little ghee all over the plate and keep aside.
• When the flour mixes well with the sugar syrup, add hot ghee little by little and mix well.
• Ghee will be fully mixed with the flour and then it will become frothy.
• Then ghee will start to ooze out. At this time switch off the flame and spread it in the plate which is greased by ghee.
• When it is little hot itself, make lines with knife and keep aside. If it fully cools down, you cannot cut them.
• When cooled fully, remove from the plate and store in an airtight container.

Note:

• If you want you can mix ghee and vanaspati for making mysore pak.
• Do not forget to fry besan flour in ghee. Otherwise there will be raw smell of the flour in the sweet.
• For this the consistency of sugar syrup is very important. If you leave too much, mysore pak will become hard.