Microwave Mysore Pak

Preparing Indian sweets, especially burfis is something that I shy away. I would rather prepare a Halwa than a burfi. Preparing burfis is no easy job. You need to know exactly when the mixture is ready to be transferred to the greased plate else you may end up with a halwa or a sweet powdery substance.

In one of my previous posts I have mentioned about my grandfather who was an expert in preparing sweets. I still remember him squeezing out the flower pattern of the Jangiri with so much ease and expertise. His other famous sweet was the Mysore Pak, not the soft ones but the authentic porous melt in the mouth Mysore paks. Mysore pak is one sweet where you need to know just the right time to transfer the mixture. Further attempts of keeping it on the flame and stirring again result only in an inferior quality of the sweet. I don’t have the courage to try my hand at it.

The other day, while talking to my SIL, I came to know about this easy to make Mysore Pak. She told me, it gets ready within 10 minutes in a microwave. I was very excited and tried it out immediately. But something somewhere went wrong, and I ended up with a crumbly mixture. I was not the one to give up, I tried it again a few days later and this time I got it right. The timing mentioned in the recipe is for about 200 gms of Besan. The first time I tried with half the quantity but used the same timing. I guess that would have been the reason for the disaster.

Here comes the recipe:

Makes about 25 pieces
What you’ll need

1. Besan/Kadala Maavu – 1 Cup
2. Sugar – 1 ½ Cup
3. Ghee/Clarified Butter – ½ Cup
4. Water – ½ Cup

Method

1. In a bowl, mix the besan and ghee and keep aside.
2. Grease a plate and keep ready.
3. Add the sugar and ½ cup of water in a microwave safe bowl and cook on Microwave High for 5 Minutes.
4. Within these 5 minutes, remove the bowl after 2 and ½ minutes and stir once. Place again and cook for the remaining time.
5. Check for one string consistency. Once the syrup has reached the one string consistency, remove from microwave and add the besan – ghee mix and mix everything very well.
6. Place in the microwave and cook for about 3 minutes.
7. Pour into the greased plate and flatten.
8. With a sharp knife, cut into pieces. Let it cool and then remove the pieces.

Oven timings may vary depending on the power of your oven.

Note:
While preparing the sugar syrup, keep stirring once or ever twice, for the sugar to dissolve fully and to attain one string consistency.
If the syrup exceeds the one string consistency, then your mixture may crumble and become powdery.
While transferring into the greased plate, you'll see that the mixture is a porous texture as it falls into the plate. That means you have removed it at the right time, else cook for few seconds more.

Linking this to Just 4 Fun, Spotlight - Colorful Holi, Hot and Spicy Treats - Festive Food, Holi Fest - Colorful Palette and to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Prathibha