Sunday, July 5, 2009

Mysore Pak or should I say Chickpea fudge.....

I think chick pea fudge seems like the best description for this delightful sweet from south Indian cuisine. Before moving on to the recipe I would like to share a little anecdote. On my recent visit to India, I traveled via New York. While at the airport there I found myself looking at this delicious huge carrot muffin displayed at a coffee shop. I was tempted to order that muffin and since it was my vacation I told myself it was fine to indulge a little and relax my no butter, no sugar stance. This relaxation of mine lasted.... all of half a minute....when my eye fell on the total calories of the muffin mentioned under it. Boy, what a deterrent that was....once I saw the muffin contained more than a third of my daily calorie requirement, I was not able to make myself order it...vacation or no vacation. Sigh !! :-( ..... Anyway this was thanks to the new policy in New York that all food items sold, should display their total calories. Not sure if this helps other people avoid fatty or high calorie food but it sure worked for me at least on that one occasion.

Anyway this incident got me thinking about this policy and I have to admit that I am a little on the fence on this one. On the one hand I like the idea of being informed and making smart choices, on the other hand I feel that occasionally when we are in the mood for relaxing and indulging, these calorie numbers are sure to be a complete turnoff and I for one may not be able to ignore those numbers and go ahead and indulge. I am sure this is why they say ....ignorance is bliss. Speaking of bliss, here is a fudge made with only three ingredients but one that tastes like pure bliss. Mysore pak or chick pea fudge definitely qualifies for the category of occasional indulgence without looking at calories with the emphasis on occasional.

This one's tricky in the sense that if you get the consistency wrong or cut down on the clarified butter too much it turns out hard. I have seen recipes for this that ask for sugar and clarified butter quantities that are double what I used here, but I believe that this works best for us. It is sweet without feeling too sweet and it is soft enough to bite into without crumbling under my fingers. I have made this numerous times and have worked on the technique to get to the point where I feel it gives me the best results. Try this for an authentic and traditional sweet and indulge a little.........


Mysore pak 5


Ingredients and Method to make Mysore Pak

2 cups chick pea flour (besan)
1 1 /2 cups warm and liquid clarified butter (ghee)
2 cups sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup water.
one or two additional drops of clarified butter to grease a tray

Place the chick pea in a large bowl. Use freshest flour to give best results. See that there are no lumps in them, if there is then you could sift it and then place in a bowl.

Pour half a cup of warm liquid clarified butter(ghee) on the flour and mix well making sure there are no lumps in the mixture. The mixture will resemble cookie dough at this point.

Pour the balance of the clarified butter on this mixture and mix well and let it sit for about 15 to 20 mins.

Grease a slightly deep tray or plate with clarified butter and keep aside

After 15 mins or so after mixing the chick pea flour with the clarified butter, place sugar in a heavy bottomed pan, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water and place on medium to medium high heat.

Once the sugar starts to boil keep stirring it. Once the sugar achieves single string consistency lower heat slightly and pour the clarified butter + chick pea flour mixture into it slowly stirring continuously.

Keep stirring this mixture until it starts to thicken and the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan.

Pour this mixture on the greased plate.

It will solidify quickly so within a minute or two after pouring into a tray/ plate when it is kind of solid, cut them into diamond shapes or square shapes in the sizes that you choose.

Notes

To test if done, just pour a small drop of the mixture on a plate, if it solidifies immediately it means it is done.

You can easily half this recipe to make a smaller quantity.

It is better to use warm clarified butter NOT hot, so do keep that in mind when you make this sweet

I find that letting the chick pea flour (besan) sit in warm clarified butter (ghee) for a little while allows the final fudge to become softer.

41 comments :

kittymatti said...

wow! these pics remind me of my MIL's mysorepak! good one! nice tips

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

wonderful!!!! looks great. send some parcel usha.

Red Chillies said...

I think that it is extremely informational when the calories are put on the food item being sold. That definitely deters me from eating/indulging it.

But then sometimes ignorance is bliss isn't it? I would dare dare not find out the calorie in a piece of mysore Pak else I would never look at it the same way again :-))

Gita Jaishankar said...

Perfect looking sweet Usha...yum :)

LifenSpice said...

Mysore pak looks perfect Usha. I am not sure about the calorie value put up on food items, coz i never think about calories in food:) somehow i never put on weight whatever i do!

Lisa Turner said...

I don't eat sweets very often, but I could not resist this. Looks like it turned out perfectly!

Uma said...

Wow, you got perfect mysore pak Usha!! Great job! looks soooo tempting.

Vibaas said...

yum yum! they look so tempting :)

suvi said...

yeah I totally agree with you...sometimes ignorance is bliss. It has become such a habit to check the calorie value, esp in sweets that now there is scarcely a time when I indulge without thinking about the calories. Very sad, in a way.

Your mysore pak looks perfect, i'd love to have some now!

Mangala Bhat said...

wow!Those pak looks soo yummy and perfect .nice click too :)

Unknown said...

Very nice one, turned out perfect.

Anonymous said...

These look like such delicious sweet treats! Yum!

Anonymous said...

Usha,lol on what you noted on muffins!! I would have done the same.for sure mentioning the calorie will be helpful for many
am not a lover of sweets Usha.but I love to always read those sweet informative things you share.Thanks

Prajusha said...

usha,
first time to ur blog.
looks perfect and yummy
thanks
prajusha
www.icookipost.com

Manju said...

i never want to know how much calories is there in somethign that i really love...ignorance is a bliss like that sometimes!

looks nice and delicious, though :)

Preeti Singh said...

Perfect looking sweet dear... looks too good and tempting.

Priya Suresh said...

Mysore pak turned out too prefect! yet to do at home, lovely clicks Usha!

lata raja said...

Oh I always use more sugar. But follow mostly how you have detailed. I shall try to reduce sugar. Thank you for sharing, the picture looks great!

Parita said...

I always check calories on all food items I buy especially desserts but yeah this sometimes stops you from indulging in your fav dessert, its good to forget the calorie meter once in a while :) mysore pak has come out well!

Anonymous said...

HI Usha!
These look scrumptious!LOvely made!I prefer these on a commercial muffin anyday!Funny I know these as laddus?made with additional nuts,is it the same?and even funnier is that I have bought some chickpea flour and its been waiting for this project I have to try to make a vegan version..hmmm?If it works,I will definitely let you know..hehee
As for the notification of the calorie count,I must say,when I started reading and you mentioned how many calories the muffin had,I immediately said wow!isnt that great that she found some food at the airport with something noted..
I have been travelling lately,and as a health concious vegan,places like airports are just terrifying ..not only is the food quality bad and prices unbelievable..you cant really understand much about what you are getting..I wonder,were the ingredients also noted?
all in all I believe it to be good,and when we feel like ''partying'' which we should (when WE decide to )then we just overlook it..but then,its under OUR own control..isnt that more sane? :) Mia

Indrani said...

wow, mysore pak looks perfect...can I have a bite, USha :)I am a totally sweet freak...don't make much at home b'coz of calorie issue

Nithya said...

lovely Mysorepak.. looks really nice and perfect. :)

Unknown said...

wow.. nice entry. looks great..

Shama Nagarajan said...

looks perfect.....yummy

Hari Chandana P said...

woww.. gr8 recipe.. looks very delicious.. lovely clicks!!

Padma said...

Mysore pak looks perfect and delicious Usha.....

AnuSriram said...

Looks delicious! Nice click!

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Looks so yummy. Nice click.

Poornima Nair said...

Usha, ur making me crazy, mysore pak looks heavenly, its one of my fav sweets.
Ignorance is definitely bliss, but I'm glad they display the calories, thats the only way I could stick to a single serving:)

Ivy said...

I don't really like the idea having to check out the calories on everything we eat. Your fudge is very original and sounds delicious and healthy.

Nirupama Sriram said...

Hi Usha,
Mysore pak is an all time favorite and home made is the best when eaten hot.
Cheers!
Nirupama

Soma said...

I love the chickpea fudge:-) i did not know that the besan ki barfi as we call them were the same thing as mysore pak.. till i saw comments in my post:-)

Anonymous said...

i like the name chickpea fudge.sounds grand! it remind of the sree krishna sweets mysurpak

Anu said...

Delicious!!!

Vidya said...

mmm Mysore pak, yum yum, my all time favorite. It is good to know the calorie content so I can grade it in my guilt meter lol. For yummy treats like these, I usually tend to ignore it though.

Usha, stop by my blog please. I have an award waiting for you.

Sum Raj said...

hey usha..nice to c u after long...ur sweet dish looks great and in perfect in shape..

Unknown said...

Nice right up yes once in a while forgetting about calories is ok but not every time for me.hummm Nice you got some thing interesting at airport that with calorie count good and Mysore pak looks so tempting and perfect texture yummm.

gtyuk said...

yum yum, I love it! it simply melts on the tongue, right? they look damp and perfect! I can almost smell the ghee from here :)

Ana Powell said...

Hi Usha
Beautiful sweet dish.
Have a great weekend x

Myvegfare said...

perfect dear, never tried i usually don't make any sweets at all, book marked

s said...

looks super..have bookmarked it..

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