Ghee Mysore pak

I was introduced to making a variety of sweets during my early years of marriage, as a young daughter in law. In a joint family there was always the need of home made sweets and snacks. During festival time, ma-in-law and ammayi ( her mom) would plan out meticulously what all to prepare and how. We mostly had an 'Iyer' or a Brahmin who is supposedly and expert to make the diwali goodies, who turned up a week before the D-day and starts off with much pomp. He would come prepared with his 'edupidi' or assistants who would give him a helping hand throughout. The firewood was set at our back yard, with a high roofed 'shamiana' to ward off unexpected showers of the month, and the Iyer would start off with his simple prayers. The whole process of making sweets and snacks, in mounts, would go for at least 5 days but those were the times I really loved! I used to simply watch in awe the way the 'edupidis' roll out ladoos from hot boondhi, the way Iyer squeezes out jalebis and does the final mix up of the 'mixture' as heaps! Ma- in- law took the complete responsibility of shopping the ingredients, dividing the whole bunch of goodies and shared with our relatives, friends and workers at home. My part was mostly to help her packing the stuff and making some extra sambhar, rasam and koottu for the Iyer and his assistants while I prepared the lunch for the family.
Those were the days ignorant of blogging and I missed to capture those scenes live to share with you! They remain as memories. These days it is getting harder to find a good cook that we simply order the sweets and snacks out to commercial joints.
Ever since blogging years, I make it a point to make at least a sweet for the festival at home, which I can share in my blog. 'Bhajji' and 'Rava Kesari' are always unavoidable on the Diwali day, anyway!

This year, I resorted to Ghee Mysore Pak for blogging. To start learning how to make the same, I depended completely upon my neighbour, Rama Aunty and her daughter Hari. Aunty is more than a neighbour with her much timely help and motherly affection. Hari is my favourite! :)
Hari made sure she mastered the art of making the sweet and went for at least half a dozen trial and errors. She sent me a sample of her every trial and I could visibly see the difference in the quality of sweet improving each time. Finally, the lovely mom and talented daughter summoned me home with all the ingredients of the all time delicacy. Since they handled the whole of stove top, all I did conveniently was the photo shoot! I realised how difficult it would be if I had tried the same and handled the photography single handed!

Mysore Pak
Yields 20 rectangles +/-
Total Time needed- 20-25 minutes

1 cup Besan / Kadalai Mavu-
2 cups melted ghee + 2-3 tbsp for adding in the last stage
1-2 tsps of ghee to grease the pan
2.5 cups sugar
3/4 cup water (this is related to quantity of sugar and not besan)





Measure besan



Dry roast lightly for a minute in medium heat, stirring continuously. Transfer to a dry tray. Besan should have slightly more than bearable heat if you do a 'touch test'.



Transfer besan to a metal sifter or to a metal sieve. (do not transfer to a nylon based sieve as it melts down due to the high heat of the besan!)



Transfer sugar to the same pan, pour water and let it boil together.



Stir now and then to dissolve sugar completely and minimise the flame to low.



While the sugar and water mix comes to a boil, grease the pan with melted ghee. This is the pan onto which you need to transfer the piping hot mysore pak right from the stove



The stage to attain is 'one string consistency' or 'pisukku padam'. This is the most important part which decides the consistency of the final outcome. So, be very careful to get it right.
The sugar water solution, after a few minutes (say, 4-7 minutes, that is: medium heat until the crystals dissolve and later in low flame;) froths up, and comes to a rolling boil as in the middle picture. Keep the flame to minimum at this point and you can see the solution turning thicker. The three pictures were shot within a minute so the stage attains in seconds after the solution starts frothing!
The solution should be sticky if you feel a few drops between the tips of your index finger and thumb. The stage has reached in the third picture above. Since the liquid is really hot, take care not to burn your fingers.



Immediately not letting to go to the next stage of syrup, add one cup of ghee.



and mix well along.



Sift in flour using sifter with one hand and a whisk to stir avoiding lumps, with the other hand.



The sifting in and vigorous mixing should take place simultaneously! It's better to have a helping hand if you are a first timer for this part!



Whisk briskly at this stage.



You can use a flat headed ladle while it thickens.



add the remaining one cup ghee 1/4 cup at a time between 3-5 minutes of continuous stirring.


You will finish the ghee as 3-4 batches while stirring.



 Keep the flame low while the mixture starts thickening and bubbles up.



Continuous stir is the most important and a bit laborious task at this point.



This stage attains within 2-3 minutes of the previous stage. Watch the edge of the pan while stirring. The mix leaves the edges or when you see 'honey comb like holes', appearing along the edges while stirring, the final stage has reached!
You may drizzle 2-3 tbsps of ghee at this point to make an extra rich Mysore Pak. But if you need to concentrate too much on the final stage, it's fine, skip it! :)



Transfer the hot lava :) to the greased tray.



Its quite natural for the sweet to froth up soon after the transfer because of the high heat.



 If it does, tap the pan gently on the counter and it settles down!




Cool for 10 minutes to get rid of the piping heat and slice mark nicely to the deep bottom. It is important to slice mark while the sweet is hot or very warm. The warm/cooled down sweet tends to break into powder and makes it tough to shape. Also, take care to slice mark deep enough to touch the base of the metal since the pieces may stick up again, due to the high heat around the base. You may not be able to slice perfectly as in shops. No worries, machines do for them :). Our imperfect rectangles are perfect heart warmers, instead :)

Notes: 

1. Mysore Pak made in non-stick pans lack the natural grainy texture. Hence we used Indolium pan. The sweet needs some crude heat with metal can offer and non-stick bases cannot!

2. 10 minutes was needed for attaining 'pisukku padam' ( the sugar syrup consistency) in low-medium flame when we tried double the quantity, of the above recipe.Therefore, for the above measurement I have written down, the time needed for the one string stage or the 'pisukku padam' will be around 4-6 minutes.

3. The sifting in and whisking process demanded 20 minutes when we made.

4. Hence the total time taken on stove was 33 minutes in exact for the doubled recipe. It may not get cut down to half the time if the recipe is halved ( the above quantity I'd mentioned), but will take around 20-25 minutes from start to finish.

If you feel the recipe explained so far, will give a very sweet mysore pak:

I tried with the measurement of 1:1:1 (besan : sugar : ghee) and it faired quite well. Just follow the same steps above while on stove stop. While making the surar syrup, add water enough to immerse the sugar. Reserve 1/4 part of the ghee to add to the pan just before you remove the sweet from the stove. This moistens and gives the sweet a better melt-in-the mouth texture.
This measurement will give you the rich ghee flavoured mysore pak which I personally prefer.

Ramaunty and Hari, this post would not have been possible with you two. I have no words to thank you both!

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Pasiparuppu Urundai / Moong dal Ladoos

Diwali is round the corner. Busy streets, people carrying heavy shopping bags, buzzing happily, children laughing, crowded sweet shops and there is merriment everywhere.
I decided to start with the easiest sweet to welcome the festival. Moong dal ladoos or Pasi paruppu urundai is one among the easiest to make in the list. This healthy sweet has a good shelf life and I am reserving for my children who are turning up soon for the holiday!

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Godhumai Jira / Instant Wheat Flour Halwa

I

mastered 'Godhumai Jira' from 'Ammayi, my husband's maternal Grandma. Years back, as a newly wed she amazed me each time she made this sweet in a jiffy for the unexpected guests who would simply admire the heavenly taste!

By typing 'mastered' I mean it!  Many of my husband's relatives learnt the recipe from 'Ammayi' but were not able to come out like hers when they tried. I admit I'd failed at least half a dozen times ;) ;thanks to the inspiring spider and the king story which never let me surrender and propelled me for years until I made it perfect!

'Ammayi', on the other hand, claims to have learnt the recipe verbally from one of her family friends. Trying to source out the cuisine I had pestered her with all sorts of queries pertaining region, whether she was a Gujarathi, Marathi, Rajasthani etc. She continues to say "Vadakkathi" meaning North Indian!

So invariably this belongs to North India. Friends, any idea to which state this belongs, please? :)

My in-laws had named this 'Godhumai Jira 'which again confuses me, especially with the latter part. Why 'Jira'?
The speciality of this sweet is that it calls for just 4 ingredients, wheat flour, ghee, sugar and water with no added colours, flavours, dried fruits or nuts! Still it tastes Heaven!

I had made up my mind, ever posted, I should make it a real elaborate step by step post to make it as easiest as possible for my readers, It seems to be elaborate, take my words, the time span between the image no:1, just below  and image no:19 with the final product is not more than 5 minutes!!


Ingredients for Wheat flour Halwa

Whole wheat flour/ Atta - 1/2 cup
Ghee- 1/2 cup (same amount as wheat flour...never compromise the quantity)
Sugar - 3/4 cup (slightly lesser than two parts of flour)
Water - 1 cup + about 1/4 cup ( 2 1/4 parts of flour)

Clear?? :)

So here we go.....you can never flaw with these anyway :)



Heat ghee / clarified butter in one of your non stick pans.
I used fresh homemade cow's ghee, amma had sent over :)    ( Thanx girls, for tolerating a bit of bragging :))




I used a shallow nonstick pan and lesser ratio of ingredients for the pictorial and please go ahead with your wider deeper pans. For beginners I strongly suggest to start with minimum quantity, say, 1/4 cup of wheat flour and 1/4 cup of ghee like I am doing here!




Add wheat flour to the heated ghee




Ah! while you place the pan to heat ghee, place the pan of water (flour : water =  1 : 2 1/4) simultaneously on the adjacent stove over medium flame.




Blend ghee + atta well. It should be watery and not thicker than you see here. This is important!




Keeping flame to minimum, stir the mixture continuously.




You can see the colour changing while the flour gets cooked in ghee




This will take 2-3 minutes (if you have used 1/4 cup of flour and ghee) and you see the flour attaining a deeper brown hue with the distinct aroma of wheat + ghee all around you!




The water must have reached the rolling boiling stage now. Make sure you don't let it boil and evaporate as we might mess up with the ratio

Ah! seems now I am burning the mix!!




Yes, this is where you are supposed to reach with the wheat and ghee part. I removed it from fire and brought it under daylight to show you the actual colour.




You don't have to put off the stove as I did and can dump sugar..




..followed by the boiling water. Be careful as you see the mix rising up a bit with a hissing sound and settling down the next second, since you are using the boiling water. Be careful with the very hot water too.

 This was the moment I was desperately in need of a third hand and envied our Hindu Gods.... was literally struggling with hot water, spatula and the camera set to auto shoot..



This stage reaches after 2 seconds from the previous. I had to put off the stove after my struggle to click a decent picture :)




The same stage for a closer shot. While you mix, ensure there are no lumps formed. It is safer to put off  fire for a few seconds until you blend the mixture well.




Keep the flame low and stir.




Aw! Seems I had both the hood lamps on and the color is confusing!




Yes! Put off one and note the consistency and the colour. This stage is reached within a minute after you mix the flour, ghee and boiling water.




Within seconds you can see the whole thing forming into a smooth glossy mass, leaving sides of the pan with a wonderful aroma. Interesting, na? :)




Ah! there you go! heave a deep sigh of relief, you've made it!
Put off fire. Transfer to another bowl and leave it cool a bit. The halwa will be really hot!

Enjoy the warm bowl of sweet. There are no added colours . No added flavours either!

Ammayi, the greatest cook of our family, is almost bedridden with limited mobility. She can no more amaze her guests with godumai jira but still loves to have it in spite of her ever shooting blood-sugar levels :)


Updated :

Hi Bharathy, this is what we Maharashtrians call Kankecha Shira meaning Wheat flour shira, probably "jira" is a mispronounced "shira". It is a rural specialty rustled up for surprise visitors. Me having grown up in Mumbai had never tasted this but a friend from Nagpur made it for me and said it is very common in the countryside. The golden roasting in ghee is the key to a good shira.

Thank you Anjali for your valuable info!


According to Kool Kitchen, Wheat Flour Sheera ( कणकेचा शीरा) is a traditional Maharashtrian sweet, usually served as ‘Prasad’ for Satyanarayanpuja.

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