Amma's Mysore Pak

Like many Tamilian Brahmin ladies of her age, my mother-in-law loves preparing simple pure ghee based sweets in her kitchen. Tamilian Brahmins are a strict vegetarian community of southern India. Possibly because their dietary regulations have resulted in little variation of daily main dishes, Tamilian women produce such fantastic sweets on a more regular basis than other indian communities. Every Tamilian housewife will have her small repertory of favorite sweets and my mother-in-law's favorites include mysore pak (recipe below) badam halwa and a variety of payasams (rice puddings).

Indian sweets typically use a lot of sugar (or gur i.e. jaggery) and at least in the Tamilian kitchen are made in fairly small quantities. As most of these sweets use pure ghee they do last quite a while, but usually they'll just get eaten up pretty quickly as they are so delicious!

Mysore Pak is a traditional south indian sweet and is made of besan (Bengal gram flour). As with making cakes or pastries, the best sweets are made with very precise measurements. I have used the word 'cup' in the recipe, the important point to keep in mind is you need to use the same measuring cup for the sugar and the besan so as to keep the proportion correct. For best results prepare the sweet in a heavy-bottomed non-stick pan.


The Recipe

1 cup besan (Bengal gram flour) sifted
2 cups sugar (use a very fine white sugar)
a little water
1 cup pure ghee, you may need to add a few teaspoons more


Put the sugar in a thick-bottomed pan and pour just enough water to cover the sugar and place the pan on a medium flame. Stir almost constantly till the sugar syrup attains a two-thread consistency (this means when you put a drop of the sugar syrup on your thumb and press it with your forefinger it stretches into two thin 'threads').
Add the besan into this sugar syrup and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. After a minute or so, add the ghee a couple of tablespoons at a time and keep stirring. This bit needs a bit of skill because as you add the ghee the mixture will thicken so it needs to be stirred constantly. It helps to turn the heat down a bit, so that the mixture cooks through and thickens without burning. Keep adding the ghee and stirring the mixture for about 10-12 minutes, you may need to add a couple teaspoons ghee over 1 cup -- till the sweet achieves a nice creamy texture and has thickened almost to cake batter consistency. Then remove from heat.
Pour the finished sweet into a tray greased well with ghee. Leave to cool for about 20-30 minutes then cut the sweet into little cubes with a butter knife. As the sweet cools it will harden a little more.