Mysore Pak

Dish type: South Indian Dessert

Time required: 45 min

Yield: 35 to 40 pieces

Ingredients

Besan                                   400 gms

Brown Sugar                       500 gms

Pure Ghee                            500 gms

Cardamom                           2 nos. (powdered)

Sandalwood powder            ¼ tsp

Directions:

Fry besan till you can feel a nutty flavour. Mix this with cardamom powder, sandal powder, ghee and keep it aside. Boil sugar along with water (Sugar: Water = 1: 1.5) till it reaches 1 string consistency. Now pour besan-ghee mixture into this. Keep stirring gently and continuously till the mixture reaches a thick paste consistency and starts leaving ghee on the sides of the kadai. Now transfer it to a greased plate. It takes atleast an hour to set. Cut them to pieces of desired shape and size.

Soft Mysore Pak is ready.

Tete a Tete

Cardamom powder can be added either to sugar syrup or to besan mix.

Softness of Mysore Pak depends on the quantity of ghee (more quantity required than for rough looking textured type) as well as syrup consistency (1 string is must).

Recipe contributor: Ms. Sreeja M

DHIDEER CHAKKLI

Aaaa….uuuu…hmmm…..

Thaka dhimi thaka dhimi thaka dhimi thai…. dhiththai…hoy, hoy watta jaai it is to watch my dolly Veena jolly well dance with her best foot forward…haa fine….but why skip her repast when lunch time is well past and make me too spin in spiral to her steps” wonders Amma of Veena. Frowning Veena stops dancing n starts singing….

“MmmmMaa, if you are happy n you know it, stomp your feet, tup tup tup….If you are happy n you know it, cook me a treat, chukchukchakk…”

Chakachuk in Ma springs an idea. She quickly thinks of a trick to woo her daughter. Off she speedsteps to the kitchen just like light, speedier than a deer and dhideer she returns well before sun is down with a munch that spirals round n round, looks spiky like and brown….showered even by a toddler with a kind of love that lasts till he/she is grown n called by all as older. Now we know why these spirally, spiky, yummiekkus tanned goldie brown forever remain Joyalukkus of the Town.

Ma ends up singing to her dearie “When you are happy with the murukkus and you’ve munched it, arre re ….shout out a Hurray le!

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Rice Variety

Time required:  30 min approx.

Yield:  20 pieces approx.

Ingredients

For dough:

Rice flour                    750 gms

Roasted gram             250 gms

Salt to taste                 1 tsp approx.

Asafoetida                   A pinch

Til seeds                      A fistful (dry roasted)

Cumin seeds                1 tsp (optional)

Butter                          1 scoop (lemon size)

Oil                               as required for deep frying

Directions

Finely powder roasted gram. To this add all other ingredients listed above except oil till it forms a dough (add minimum quantity of water required). Knead this dough thoroughly. Fill this into the gadget used for making chakklis.

Heat oil in a kadai. Let oil quantity be enough to fry about 2 or 3 chakklis at a time. Press the chakkli gadget filled with dough on to this heated oil in slow and circular motion. Repeat this 2 or 3 times so that there are 2 or 3 chakklis frying in the oil. If the dough gets over in the gadget refill it with more dough and continue pressing.

While chakklis are frying, flip them using a ladle so that the other side is also fried. When the chakklis turn golden brown in colour, remove them and place them on a plate topped by a tissue paper. This is done so that excess oil in the chakklis get sucked by the paper.

Repeat the procedure for rest of the dough.

Tasty chakklis are now ready and tempting you…right?

Tete - a - Tete:

If butter quantity is in excess, chakklis tend to break

Another method of making dough was shared by Smt. Gayathri, a friend of mine. Soak 1 cup of urad dal overnight. Grind it to a fine, smooth paste. To this add 2 cups of rice flour and all other ingredients listed above and mix them well to make smooth dough. Rest of the procedure remains the same as above.

Another variation in ingredients used for the dough as told to me by Smt. Krishnaveni, cook from my neighbourhood is to add equal quantities of besan and rice flour. Add other ingredients as listed above to make dough.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Nagarathnamma, an expert cook and mother of my dear friend Smt. Veena Vani

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog  

You may also view in this blog:
Few other Snack Recipes

Dessert Recipes

Side Dish Recipes

Breakfast Recipes

Rice Varieties

Gojju Varieties

Spice Powders

Sambar Varieties

7 Cups Barfi (Type 2)

How about a race (not the rat kind please) to bring a smile on Lord Ganesha’s face?

Wel….come, come Gowris, Shivas and Subbus, join the race. Hey Subbus what are you waiting for? Oh yeah…I know. So sorry Subbus, this time no kadubus ‘coz Lord G has wished for His Selfie with Barfi….hee hee .

Ready, steady, 1.2..3…4….5…..6……go for this miniathon that’s sweetly different…just 7 laps long! Chase those cups… all same size, 7 of them. 1 of besan, 2 of sugar, 3 of ….. Oomph! Off you zoomed to the finish line in no time!! Tip yourself to a delicious dessert you duly deserve!

A dessert that tempts you to devour, yet sweet signals sent from its bits simply say “Taste me… just a bite and I shall see you savour me bits by bit by wee bit”. 7 ingredients coming together to submerge in a syrup prepared “with no strings (I mean consistencies) attached” and lo! watch those diamonds emerge flat on a plate, glittering. Oh my….I see you scaling up to seventh heaven already!  

Dish Type:  South Indian Dessert

Time:  10 min(preparation) + 30 min (cooking) + 60 min (cooling)

Yield:  16 pcs (approx.)

Ingredients – Option 1

Besan / Gram flour          1 cup

*Chiroti Rava                  1 cup (Semolina fine quality)

Sugar                              2 cups

Ghee                               1 cup

Milk                                1 cup

Raw Coconut                  1 cup (grated)

Cardamom                      2 pcs.

*Cashewnuts                   few nos. cut to fine pieces (for adding aroma) 

Directions

Keep all the ingredients ready in cups, all of same size.

Start by preparing sugar syrup. For this add sugar to milk and boil till sugar melts. Keep stirring frequently. Else milk can “break”. While this is boiling….

Dry fry chiroti rava in a kadai. Keep it aside. Fry besan along with ½ cup ghee. Make sure besan does not turn brown. When you smell the scent of the fried flour, add raw, fresh grated coconut, dry fried rava and continue frying for about 5 min. Add rest of the ghee left in the cup. Keep stirring for 5 more min. By now sugar syrup will be ready. Add this to the kadai and mix the contents well. Ensure no lumps are formed at any point of time. Continue stirring till ghee oozes out and starts flowing on the sides of the kadai. Keep mixing….oh can’t mix any more? Well, that’s a good sign to transfer contents from pan to plate! Before you do it, keep a clean, flat plate or tray ready. Grease it by smearing ghee uniformly all over including the sides.

Pour the contents in the kadai on to the greased plate. Spread the mixture evenly on the plate. Slowly and gently flatten and smoothen the top surface with a spatula. After a minute or two, using a sharp knife, mark lines to divide them. Mark either diagonally into diamonds or straight to from squares or rectangles. When it is warm, run the knife deep over the marked lines to slit them to pieces. Let it stand uncovered till it reaches room temperature (takes about an hour). Remove the pieces carefully and stack them on a plate. 7 cups barfi is now ready. Serve them rightaway.

Store them in an air tight container. Store in fridge if it is used next day or later.

Tete a tete

Chiroti rava (fine quality semolina) is optional. If you don’t use, then use2 cups of besan.

Wheat flour and/ or refined flour may also be used in addition to besan. In that case proportion will be ½ cup besan and ½ cup flour

While stirring, every time make sure spatula reaches right down to the bottom of the kadai and all round the sides for uniform frying.

Texture of the mixture is perfect when it appears smooth and shiny sans any bubbles.

Cashewnuts can be powdered and added towards the end while frying.

Cup of any size can be used. Make sure the same cup is used for measure. No. of pieces vary accordingly. I used cup size that holds 100 gms and treated my family to atleast 16 diamonds!

Shelf life if stored in fridge is around 5 days.

Also view:
Gulipaavate (Quick version)
Banana Fritters (Yeridevu / Suttevu)
Red Rice Laddoos
Mixed Veg Tikki
Bun Gulkand Sandwich

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog