Mysore pak

Mysore pak is an Indian sweet. The story goes that the king of Mysore wanted a dessert and his chef Kakasura Madappa mixed besan flour ( bengal gram flour - a type of chickpea flour), sugar and butter and came up with this sweet. It was one of the first sweets I learned how to make and enjoy making it. If you are uncomfortable with trying to figure out the string stage of the sugar syrup manually you can get a candy thermometer that has this marked on it !

Ingredients 

Gram flour ( Bengal gram / besan flour) - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 cups

Ghee - 1.75 cups 

Water - 1 cup 

Instructions 

1. Take a sieve and sieve the gram flour so that it is fine with no lumps

2. Place a heavy bottomed pot on low- medium heat and dry roast the gram flour until the raw smell is gone 

3. Place the flour in a bowl and set aside 

4. Clean the pot out so there is no flour sticking to it 

5. Now add the 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water to the pot and place on medium heat and mix well and let it boil until it reaches the one string consistency ( this is when you can put the sugar syrup between your fingers and when you pull it apart it forms a string 

I didn’t take a picture of the single string stage , so I am using  a picture from this  website 

Make sure you are careful since the sugar is hot. 

6. Now lower the heat and add the besan flour to the sugar syrup a little at a time and using a whisk mix it in smoothly.

7. Finally add the ghee into the mixture and this will make it more liquid. Keep stirring until the ghee starts coming off the side 

8. Now turn off the stove and pour the mixture in a pan greased with butter 

9. Cut into small squares when hot and let it cool for about half hour 

10. Now you can take the squares out and Mysore pak is ready to serve ! 

Asoka ( Indian sweet)

Asoka halwa is a type of South Indian sweet made with moong dal ( split and dehusked green gram ). It is usually served at weddings . It is typically easier to make than traditional South Indian halwa which is made with wheat milk! 

Ingredients 

Moong dal ( dehusked split green gram) - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1 cup 

Wheat flour - 3/4 tbsp 

Saffron - a few sprigs soaked in water ( 1 tbsp  water)

Cashews - 10

Raisins- 10

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Ghee- 1/2 cup 

Oil- 1/4 cup

Noted here are the moong dal paste - the paste is darker brown since we used whole moong dal ( non dehusked and green hence it is darker in color) 

Instructions 

1. Dry roast the moong dal in a pan on medium heat for a few minutes taking care not to brown it 

2. Place the moong dal and 2.5 cups of water to it in a instant pot and pressure cook it for 30 minutes 

3. Once you vent the pressure cooker then take the cooked moong dal and grind into a fine paste ( typically the paste is light yellow)

4. Place a sauce pan on medium heat and add 2 tbsp of ghee to it and let it melt 

5. Roast cashews until golden brown and then roast raisins for a few seconds and set aside 

6. Add 1/4 cup ghee and 1/4 cup oil and let it melt. Keep the pan on medium low heat and add the wheat flour to this ghee and roast it until it turns light brown.

7. Then add the moong dal paste to it and continue to cook and the mixture will start sticking to the pan ( takes about 5-7 min)

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8. Now add the sugar and cook for a few more minutes on medium heat.When sugar is added, the mixture becomes watery. Cook until the mixture is thick again- takes about 10 to 15 min. It turns into a thick consistency like halwa ( for people not aware of this, it is an almost gelatinous consistency and starts coming off the pan and doesn’t stick)

9. Now reduce to low flame , add the saffron water and the remaining ghee ( a little at a time ) and cook the mixture ,until the mixture gives off the ghee on top and starts coming off the side.

10. Add cardamom powder and  then the roasted cashews and raisins 

11. Asoka halwa is ready to serve 

 

Toffee topped with cashews

My dad usually gets toffee for Christmas from a company he works with and he loves it , but this year the person that sends them retired ! So he had no toffee. I set out to make toffee and looked for recipes and found this one I modified it a little bit and I had awesome toffee. Even my sister (who is not easily impressed ) was impressed . Try it out and let me know what you think 

Ingredients 

Unsalted Butter - 2 cups ( 4 sticks ) 

Sugar - 2 cups 

Salt - pinch 

Semi sweet chocolate chips- 2 cups 

Unsalted Cashews chopped in to small pieces - 1 cup 

Candy thermometer 

Instructions :

Have a baking sheet lined with buttered parchment paper ready on a flat surface. 

1. Place a heavy bottomed saucepan on medium heat . Add the butter, sugar and salt . Let the butter melt and stir occasionally once the butter is melted place a candy thermometer on the side to measure the temperature of the mixture.
   
   
   
   
2. Let the mixture come to a boil and cook until it turns a beige/ light brown color. Stir occasionally with a wooden spatula to ensure the mixture doesn’t stick to the pan.
   
3. Let the mixture come to 290 F ( also known as the hard crack stage ) . If you drop a little ball of the mixture into cold water you will get a brittle mixture 
4. Once this happens take off  the stove immediately and pour the mixture on pan lined with the parchment paper and let it get evenly spread and let sit for a couple of minutes. 
   
5. Immediately evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the warm mixture so that they melt and spread the melted chocolate evenly over the mixture with a silicone spatula 
   
   
   
   
   
6. Now sprinkle the chopped nuts on top evenly 
   
7. Place the pan in the refrigerator for atleast 2 to 3 hours or until completely set. To break the toffee lift up the parchment paper and drop from a few inches height over a hard clean flat work surface. Do this a few times and it will have broken into uneven pieces. Toffee is ready to serve. Here is a  popular video on YouTube showing all the steps ( there is some variation from my recipe ) for visual learners. Enjoy ! 
   
   
   
   

Kesari

KESARI (special version, served in weddings):

 Kesari is an Indian sweet that is easy to make. It can be served as a snack or with breakfast. It is made of rava /sooji. If you are using cream of wheat ensure it is a fine powder instead of a coarse powder. 

Ingredients: 

Sooji (Cream of Wheat - finely powdered - 1cup

Sugar- 1 cup

Ghee (clarified butter)- ½ cup

Oil -¼ cup

Water- 3 cups

Cardamom- 3 pods(crushed to a powder form)

Cashew- 10 pieces

Raisin-10 pieces

Natural food color (orange/color of choice)- 3 to 5 drops

 

Instructions: 

1. Dry roast the sooji in a fry pan for 2 minutes.  Mix half of the clarified butter and half of the oil  to the sooji and continue frying on medium heat for an additional 2 minutes. The sooji will turn a bit lighter in color. Remove the sooji from the frying pan and set aside.

2. Fry the cashews and raisins in 1 spoon of the clarified butter. Set aside.

3. Place the 3 cups of water in the pan; add 1 teaspoon of clarified butter and 1 teaspoon of oil to the water. Bring this to a boil on high heat. Once the water is boiling turn the stove down to medium heat. Add the fried sooji to the boiling water little by little. Mix thoroughly by using a whisk to avoid lumps. Add 2 teaspoons of oil and keep whisking until the sooji is fully cooked (~3-5 min.). The mixture would now be thick and have a paste-like consistency. 

4. Add sugar and keep whisking. The Kesari will become a bit watery with the addition of sugar but with continued cooking (3-4 min.) would return back to its cake batter-like consistency.

5. Add the cardamom powder, fried cashews, fried raisins, food color & the remaining clarified butter and incorporate them into the Kesari.

6. Kesari is now ready to serve 

Pottukadalai laddoo

We usually make puffed rice balls for the festival of karthgai ( a festival referenced in tamil literature since 200 BC) but since I didn't have puffed rice, I decided to try a different kind of laddoo. This recipe is adapted from a moong dal ( split de-husked green gram) laddoo recipe my mom has made since I was young.

Ingredients:

Pottukadalai ( de-husked split chickpeas/de-husked bengal gram) powder- 1 cup ( 1/2 cup of the chickpeas will make a cup of the flour)

Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup ( granulated sugar can be ground in to a powder, sifted and set aside)

Ghee- melted- 2-3 tbsp

cardamom- 2 to 3 pods -  remove the seeds from the husk.

cashews- 10 roasted until golden brown and chopped into small pieces

Instructions:

1. Place a pan on medium heat.  Dry roast the de-husked bengal gram for 2-3 minutes and set aside.
   
   
2. Add the cardamom seeds to the gram and grind it into a fine powder.
   
   
3. Use a sifter to get the fine powder and set aside.
4. Take 1 cup of ground gram powder and add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to it.Add the chopped cashews to the bowl and mix. 
5. Add ghee a little at a time until the dough is the consistency of bread dough
   
   
   
   
6. Now break off small golf ball sized pieces of dough and make into perfect balls
7. Laddoos are ready to serve