Besan roasted in a syrup of sugar and ghee until it sets into dense, fudgy squares; the notebook's great sweet, royal in origin and unforgiving of shortcuts.
Snack · 10 min prep · 30 min cook · serves 8 Newly added
Ingredients
- 1 cup besan (gram flour)
- 1½ cups ghee , melted, warm
- 2¼ cups sugar
- 1 cup water , for the syrup
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder , optional
Preparation
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Sift the besan; keep the ghee gently warm so it stays liquid throughout.
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Boil the sugar and water to a one-string syrup, a drop between thumb and finger should form a short thread.
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Lower the heat; add the besan in a steady rain, whisking hard against lumps.
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Pour in the warm ghee a ladle at a time, stirring constantly; the mass will froth, seize, then turn porous and aromatic.
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When it leaves the pan's sides and pulls from the ladle in ribbons, add cardamom and pour into a greased tray.
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Mark into squares while warm; let it set fully before lifting the pieces out.
In the tradition
Legend gives Mysore pak to the palace kitchen of Krishna Raja Wadiyar, a cook who poured ghee into a besan halva by mistake and served the result as a new sweet. Whatever the truth, the recipe’s character is royal: enormous quantities of ghee, constant stirring, and no forgiveness for a cold pan.
Sources & further reading
- Family recipe notebook (sweets page, "Mysore Pak: besan 1 cup, ghee 1.5 cup, sugar 2.25 cups")
Classical citations mark where a tradition is drawn on; modern books are shared as further reading, not as prescriptions.