Mysore Pak - Authentic south Indian sweet

I am all smiles when it comes to sweet. Just tried Mysore pak with mom's recipe and tips over phone. Million thanks to my mom. The sweet has turned out pretty good.  I have cooked almost all authentic sweets and somehow, when it came to mysore pak, I was always hesitated to give a hand since I thought it was a very complicated sweet and it needs an expert's hand to prepare such a delicacy  I have always bought them from either grand sweets or krishna sweets - the local famous sweet merchants.

I still can't believe that I cooked Mysore pak right in my kitchen with just three ingredients and a little stirring. that's it. The sweet was ready in minutes. It took around two hours to completely cool down but it only took approximately fifteen minutes to prepare. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Granulated sugar -two and half cups

Water - one cup

Gram flour (besan flour) - one cup

Ghee (clarified butter) - two cups minimum 

A greased plate 

handful of granulated sugar

Method:

Please keep the ingredients near you before you start. I prepared this sweet in a non stick kadai.

Melt Sugar using one cup water in low to medium heat.

When the sugar dissolves, mix besan flour little by little as you stir.

In a minute you will notice froth like bubbles.

At this point in time, pour one cup ghee and fold it with the mixture. 

Make sure the heat is set to somewhere between low and medium.

You will notice the ghee gets absorbed quickly with froth like bubbles in few places. 

Keep stirring and pour the rest of the ghee.

In less than a minute, all the ghee will be absorbed and the entire content will be bubbling with froth like consistency. 

Turn off heat and pour the mixture in a greased plate. Level the mixture.

Sprinkle a handful of granulated sugar over the mixture. (This is my grand father's idea. He is an expert in all sweets. He prepared them and sold them in the restaurant he owned.)

Allow the content to cool.

After one hour or so, take a sharp knife and cut the sweet in straight lines vertically and horizontally, so each piece is a rectangle.

Allow it to cool COMPLETELY. Perfect Mysore pak is ready.

Note: I have heard people first roasting the besan flour with a dash of ghee before preparing the sweet, to take away the raw smell. But, I did not roast and the sweet did not have any raw besan smell. It was all ghee smell only. Prepare the sweet using only homemade ghee for best results. No oil and No vanaspathi please.

Capsicum Pachadi / Bell pepper Raitha

Capsicum raitha is nothing but sautéed diced capsicum mixed with yogurt/curd seasoned with mustard seeds. A qucik fix as an accompaniment for any spicy (rice) dish. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

Capsicum - green - 1

Oil for tempering

Mustard seeds - half teaspoon

Urud dal - 1 teaspoon (optional)

Asafoetida powder -a pinch (optional)

Salt to taste

Thick curds - 1 to 2 cups (plain yogurt)

Method:

Dice the capsicum (bell pepper).

Heat oil in a kadai and temper the mustard seeds. When it pops, add the asafoetida powder and urud dal if adding and add the diced capsicum. 

Fry the capsicum for a couple of minutes and add salt. Sprinkle water and fry the capsicum until it turns light brown. 

Turn off heat and allow it to cool completely.

Now, add the curds and mix well.

Garnish with coriander leaves. Curry leaves can be added while frying the capsicum for more flavor. Spice lovers can slit a green chilli and add it to the seasoning. 

Capsicum raitha is ready to be served. 

Paruppu Usili / Bele Palya

wow! a long break really. Motherhood being my highest priority, I just had to shutdown my blogging for sometime and that sometime became a year. Now, I feel, it is time for me to get started. Planning to post at least one or two recipes a week. Let's see how it goes. Please wish me good luck. 

First of all, a big hello to all the regular visitors of this site. To start with, here is the recipe for Paruppu usili. It is called Bele palya in Kannada. A recipe cannot be more easier than this one. In a nutshell, bele palya is nothing but roasted spicy ground dal that is mixed with either cooked chopped beans or cooked plantain flower/vaazhaippoo or chopped methi leaves. Here, I have used the green beans. To be exact, the cluster beans. Its other names are  Gavar/Guar/Guwar/Guvar bean. The hero of the dish is of course the Bele or Paruppu or Dal. I have used Toor Dal or Thuvaram Paruppu. Here is the list of ingredients.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1 and half cups

Dry red chillies - 5 to 6

Salt - as required

Refined oil - 5 tablespoons

Cluster beans - handful - finely chopped and cooked well with enough salt 

(either Vaazhai poo - plantain flowers or Methi leaves can be substituted)

Mustard seeds - 2 teaspoons

Asafoetida powder - Hing powder - 1 teaspoon

Method:

Wash well and soak the toor dal for one or two hours.

Meanwhile chop the beans and cook with little salt and keep it aside.

Now, drain the water from the dal and grind with salt and dry red chillies using very very little water. (For chillies and salt to mix well with the dal, grind a handful of dal with the chillies and salt first and then add remaining dal and grind all together). Keep it aside.

Take a NON STICK kadai and pour the oil. Always keep in medium heat. 

Temper the mustard seeds. As it pops, add the asafoetida powder and immediately add the ground dal.

Keep stirring until all the oil is absorbed.

Then, stir every one or two minutes. The dal changes color to bright yellow and gets roasted.

In 10 to 15 minutes, you will notice the dal becoming a crumbled mixture. 

At this point in time, add the chopped cooked beans and stir well.

Turn off heat after a couple of minutes.

Serve with Rasam saadam or curd rice or just enjoy it as it is. 

Its a very easy dish. Specially a spicy No onion No garlic dish.

I have also used very very basic ingredients  Using turmeric powder, curry leaves and urud dal is opitonal. Cook this dish and let me know the feedback.