Food Adventures - I : Mysore Pak

It all started in Summer of 2006, with my then-roommate, Shilpa promising this wonderful sweet for a special Sunday (which never happened). The thought revived memories of the mysore paks perfectly made by dear most amamma. After a long phone conversation, I gathered the tips and directions from amamma, but could never find the time for it. Now that I was 'jobless', literally, this was the first I thought of making. After a wonderful visual explanation from vahchef, I set out to make this all-time favourite.

Ingredients:
1 cup Besan
1/2 cup Sugar
2 cups Ghee
1/4 cup water
Method:
Add a tsp of hot ghee to the besan and sieve it. Take sugar in a thick-bottomed sauce pan and add water just enough to cover the sugar. Keep stirring till the sugar dissolves and attaines a soft-ball or thread consistency. You can check the consistency by dropping a drop of the sugar syrup in a bowl of cold water or by using your fingers OR (thanks to madhu atta for the idea) use a kitchen thermometer to check the syrup temperature, it should be 250F. I got caught up in checking this and my sugar syrup became fit for Chakkara Achchulu (Sugar Figurines). Following madhu atta's tip this time, I added water again and started over. When the consistency is right, add the besan and keep stirring. Now add the hot ghee one ladle at a time. (For first-timers like me, the amount of ghee might give a slight heart-ache, but we'll get used to it) When you see the color change, pour the mixture onto a greased plate/bowl and let it cool. When firm, cut into desired pieces.