Mysore Pauk

Mysore pauk is a deliciously rich Indian sweet made from besan (gram flour), sugar, and generous amount of ghee. This cake is said to be in perfect consistency "only" if it melts in your mouth as soon as you bite into it.

My mom recently made this for Diwali (one of the popular Indian festivals) and they got over so quickly (so yum & mouthwatering!). Since then, I wanted to make 'picture perfect' cakes and today, here I am trying out 'Mysore pauk'. I was extremely happy with the texture & taste of the cake, especially thrilled to see my daughter enjoying this 'square shaped sweet' (that 's how she refers to this sweet).

Ingredients
Besan / Gram flour – 1 cup
Sugar – 2 1/4 cups
Ghee – 2 - 3 cups
Cardamom powder – one generous pinch

Method
Take a spoonful of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and roast besan until brown. Keep it aside.

Now, add sugar and a cup of water and bring them to boil until the sugar syrup reaches one string consistency. Reduce the heat.

Now, add besan to the sugar syrup and stir nicely to avoid lumps. Keep stirring. In between your stirring, keep adding a ladle full of ghee every now & then. Stir continuously until the ghee starts to leave the sides of the pan and the mixture starts to thicken. At a point, when the mixture becomes porous and light gold in color, stir in the cardamom powder and remove from heat.

Immediately pour onto a greased (with ghee) tray & evenly level it out with a spatula. Give it a couple of minutes and cut into pieces of desired size.

Tips

- Take very little amount of ingredients to check if you can get the cakes with exact firmness & consistency. Today I tried this with just a ladle of besan, 2 1/4 ladle of sugar, 3-4 ladles of ghee.

- To check the sugar syrup consistency, take a drop of sugar syrup between thumb & forefinger and pull it apart - you should get a string between the fingers.

- Make sure ghee is hot while adding to the mixture (My mom usually keeps ghee on low heat in another burner while making mysore pauk).

- Keep stirring and every now and then, add a ladle full of ghee. As soon as you add ghee to the mixture, it should froth.

- To test if the mixture can be removed from the heat, pour a drop of mixture in the greased tray and if it can be rolled into a soft ball (without sticking), it is right stage.

Events
Linking to "My Legume Love Affair #42" hosted by Kiran.
Linking to "My-Legume-Love-Affair-Host-Lineup" hosted by Susan.

Sending this to "Diwali Bash 2013" hosted by Cooks Joy.