 |
| Cashew Mysore Pak |
In addition to our regular post for the fermentation series, this week we bring you a bonus recipe! As V and I will be soon celebrating another year of being together, amma made this special cashew-besan Mysore Pak for us.
Mysore Pak is a classic South Indian dessert which was prepared first in the palace of the Rajah of Mysore (hence the name) and spread throughout India. Of course, the other famous thing to come out of the Mysore palace is Mysore-style Yoga, gifted to the entire world by the great Sri Pattabhi Jois.
The classic recipe contains just 3 ingredients – chickpea flour, sugar and ghee. Even though the recipe looks deceptively simple, chefs and home cooks take pride in the way they make it so that it crumbles and melts in your mouth. The key ingredient that makes it so is ghee, the divine fat from ancient India, now catching on like wild fire in the West.
The variation made by amma contains cashews and white poppy seeds. According to wikipedia, poppy seed is a nutritionally dense spice with high levels of essential minerals.
 |
| Cashew Mysore Pak |
- Grease a 9×9 pan with ghee and set aside
- Roast the gram flour over low heat in a heavy-bottomed vessel until it is somewhat fragrant and loses its raw smell.
- Mix the besan with half the ghee to make a paste and set aside
- Grind the cashews and poppy seeds together with very little water and set aside
- In the same heavy-bottomed vessel, dissolve the sugar in the water over medium heat, reduce to low heat and keep stirring. The sugar syrup needs to reach the one-string consistency or soft ball stage, at approximately 240F. (Click here for Sanjeev Kapoor’s notes on this.)
- Immediately add the besan paste and ground cashew mixture in to the sugar syrup
- Keep stirring over low heat adding the remaining ghee a little at a time until it starts leaving the side of the vessel, around 10-15 mins
- Pour into the greased pan and flatten the surface
- When it cools just a little, use a sharp knife and slice through
- Let it cool all the way, remove from pan and store it in an airtight container to enjoy!
 |
| Cashew Mysore Pak |
“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.”