Mysore pak

Mysore pak or Mysore paak must be one of the most popular sweets in Karnataka. It is one of my all time favorite sweets. But there are different kinds of Mysore pak available in market. When I was a kid, they were always long rectangular shaped(as in this picture). They used to be solid, very porous, melt in the mouth kind of sweets. But these days we get them either like semi solid ones with dripping ghee or even if they are solid ones, they don’t have pores in them, so they are too hard, they are very light in color (almost the color of besan). Somehow I don’t like this variety. Though both are still Mysore paks and there are many fans for both types, but I like only the first one.
Since this is my hubby’s favorite too, I asked my aayi if she knew how to make these. She said when she was just married, she used to make these very regularly. When she was here, she even wanted to give me a demo, but somehow we never got to make this at that time. She gave me the exact steps to make this. She also said after sometime she had stopped making these at home since they were readily available in markets and also she clearly knew the response to any sweets at our home.
So after keeping this recipe without being tried for about 4-5months, I thought it is high time to give it a try. Since there are just 6 days left for Diwali, I thought this is the best time. Frankly, I didn’t have much hopes when I started. Even though I have 100% faith in my aayi’s recipes, I have a natural talent for messing up the dishes. These got ready in about 45mins and I had got one of the best Mysore paks, just the way I loved them. They were very porous, light, solid, crunchy. I have cut them in the shape available in bakeries, the color also came out perfect.
If I say I am on 7th sky, it won’t be wrong. Two days straight, I have been very happy. Yesterday, I had a major breakthrough in my project and I almost danced in front of everyone. My boss, who always thinks I am a quiet girl, started laughing when I was jumping with joy. Today, even though a mere sweet is nothing compared to that success, I am too happy, just can’t express in words .
This is my first entry to Vee’s Diwali special JFI. I did a lot of circus today to take pictures with one hand while I was mixing the contents with other hand. So pardon the poor quality of most of the photos.
Ingredients:1 cup gram flour(besan)1 cup sugar1 cup ghee1/2 tea spn cardamom powder
Normally 2 cups of ghee for 1 cup flour is used, I think that makes the texture still better. But I am very satisfied with the texture for amount of ghee I used.