Recipe for a modified version of Mysore Pak with cashews.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup organic chickpea flour / gram flour (besan in Hindi, kadalai maavu in Tamil)
1/4 cup raw cashews soaked in water for 2 hours
1 tsp poppy seeds soaked in water for 2 hours
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup ghee + a bit more for greasing a pan, melted
Method:
- Grease a 9x9 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 soaked 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 to make pieces
- Let it cool all the way, remove from pan and store it in an airtight container to enjoy!