Mysore Pak - A Shortcut

Another Depavali just whizzed by. The festival of lights, pomp, and treats is sorely missed by us. But despite being mocked and taunted by our friends in India, we still try yo keep up the spirit of Deepavali by preparing a few sweets and savories and spending time with friends.  But this year, we were more than tied up  with work to participate in any active celebration. However, we received  a generous bounty of sweets, snacks, and new clothes from India, so we gratefully wore the lovely attires and gorged on the home-made delicacies!

I was more enthusiastic last year, and meticulously spent a whole week preparing some Deepavali sweets and munchies. One of the sweets I made was the hugely popular Mysore Pak. If made right, they taste so heavenly and literally melt in your mouth. But then, you need to be totally in the dark regarding its preparation, and remain ignorant of what ingredients (and how much of it) goes into this sweet to truly enjoy it without any shred of guilt or worry! The first time I witnessed the preparation, I was speechlessly horrified at the amounts of ghee and sugar that were literally poured! It’s almost as if the besan (channa dhal flour) is just the minor binding ingredient to give a base for all the sugar and ghee :). When I had made up my mind that I would never ever have the courage to prepare this sweet, one of my good friends shared a lower-calorific, microwave version of it from this blog : http://shakaharisapadu.wordpress.com/2006/10/16/mysore-pak-in-a-jiffy/

I tried it immediately and was pretty impressed at the output! Of course, nothing beats the taste of mysore pak that is made in the traditional manner, but this came pretty close, especially considering how fast it is to prepare! However, I made a few changes to the quantities to further reduce the ghee and sugar. I also adjusted the heating times a bit.

The changes to the ingredients are:
1. I don’t add any maida (or all purpose flour)
2. I add only ½ cup of ghee
3. I add only 1 ¼ - 1 ½ cups of sugar (2 cups of sugar was quite a bit for us)
4. I also generously sprinkle cardamom powder at the end (right before pouring the hot mixture onto a greased plate).

I follow almost the same heating procedure as suggested in the blog, except  for one change. After the addition of milk and sugar, I heat the mixture till it begins to rise and froth vigorously. Sometimes, it might take a little more than 3 minutes. My friend was the one who offered this tip to me, so thanks to her, the mysore pak always solidifies to the right consistency! Another valuable tip, heat the mixture in a tall and wide microwavable container (glass container is ideal). Since the mixture rises and bubbles, there may be some unfortunate spilling if your container is small.

The more there is ghee, the better the sweet will be! But if you can compromise on ¼ cup of ghee, then this version will satisfy you quite well :). Else go ahead, add the extra ghee and enjoy to your heart’s content!

 Sorry about the splatter of cardamom powder across the pieces. I had forgotten to add it prior to transferring the bubbling hot mixture onto the greased plate.