I hadn't made this before because everyone said it was too tricky and laborious, but finally decided to give it a try and it turned out great. I was very happy to see the perforations/lattice as well as the color gradations in the Mysore pak.
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/2-3/4 cup water, enough to cover the sugar
1 cup besan/chickpea flour
1 cup ghee
1 cup sunflower oil
Method
Grease a deep tin and set it aside. I used a 8x4 bread baking tin.
Pour the sugar into a broad pan and the water, stir them together and heat. Heat this on low- medium heat (3-4 setting on electric stove). Also, in a sauce pan, mix the ghee and oil together and start hearing this mixture at the same low-medium heat setting.
As the sugar syrup is cooked, sieve the besan to remove all lumps. Check the syrup and once it gets sticky but before reaching the single thread consistency, add 1/3rd besan and mix well till lumps are dissolved. Do this in a couple of batches till the besan is completely mixed into the syrup. If they are any lumps, use a sieve or strainer to push the lumps out by pouring the lumpy syrup through it.
Now keep stirring this mixture. After a couple of minutes, you will see bubbles in this mixture as you stir it. At this stage you are ready to add the ghee oil mixture that is being heated.
Add one ladle at a time and stir it into the besan syrup mixture. Continue this till you reach the stage where the ghee oil mixture is no longer absorbed into the besan. When you are nearing this stage, you will notice that as you add the ghee oil mix into the besan syrup mixture, it starts to froth. Add the last ladle of ghee oil after you see that it is not really getting absorbed and let the froth form. Then pour this mixture into the tin to create a tall slab. My tin was much bigger and so I filled it just halfway (see pic for reference). Gently level the top to make sure not to destroy the lattice structure formed by the frothing. Now let it set for 5 minute and then make the cuts in the Mysore pak to form rectangles. Make sure to cut t through and completely. I didn't cut it entirely and once it was cool it was difficult to separate and cut it out. Now let it cool for a couple of hours, and remove the Mysore pak slices from the pan.
Tips
All the ghee oil mixture didn't get used up. About 1/2 to 3/4 cup remained. Make sure to add the besan before the single thread, so that it doesn't become too dry. The reason to go for a tall thick slab is so that the central part continues to cook at the part of the
Mysore pak exposed to the air and at the bottom of the tin start to cool first. This is needed to create the different shades/color striations in the mithai.
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/2-3/4 cup water, enough to cover the sugar
1 cup besan/chickpea flour
1 cup ghee
1 cup sunflower oil
Method
Grease a deep tin and set it aside. I used a 8x4 bread baking tin.
Pour the sugar into a broad pan and the water, stir them together and heat. Heat this on low- medium heat (3-4 setting on electric stove). Also, in a sauce pan, mix the ghee and oil together and start hearing this mixture at the same low-medium heat setting.
As the sugar syrup is cooked, sieve the besan to remove all lumps. Check the syrup and once it gets sticky but before reaching the single thread consistency, add 1/3rd besan and mix well till lumps are dissolved. Do this in a couple of batches till the besan is completely mixed into the syrup. If they are any lumps, use a sieve or strainer to push the lumps out by pouring the lumpy syrup through it.
Now keep stirring this mixture. After a couple of minutes, you will see bubbles in this mixture as you stir it. At this stage you are ready to add the ghee oil mixture that is being heated.
Add one ladle at a time and stir it into the besan syrup mixture. Continue this till you reach the stage where the ghee oil mixture is no longer absorbed into the besan. When you are nearing this stage, you will notice that as you add the ghee oil mix into the besan syrup mixture, it starts to froth. Add the last ladle of ghee oil after you see that it is not really getting absorbed and let the froth form. Then pour this mixture into the tin to create a tall slab. My tin was much bigger and so I filled it just halfway (see pic for reference). Gently level the top to make sure not to destroy the lattice structure formed by the frothing. Now let it set for 5 minute and then make the cuts in the Mysore pak to form rectangles. Make sure to cut t through and completely. I didn't cut it entirely and once it was cool it was difficult to separate and cut it out. Now let it cool for a couple of hours, and remove the Mysore pak slices from the pan.
Tips
All the ghee oil mixture didn't get used up. About 1/2 to 3/4 cup remained. Make sure to add the besan before the single thread, so that it doesn't become too dry. The reason to go for a tall thick slab is so that the central part continues to cook at the part of the
Mysore pak exposed to the air and at the bottom of the tin start to cool first. This is needed to create the different shades/color striations in the mithai.
