Mysore Pak

Ingredients

• Channa dal flour(Besan) - 1 cup
• Ghee - 2 cups (Can be substituted with one cup of ghee and one cup of oil)
• Sugar - 2 cups

Mysore Pak

method

1. Roast the besan in a tava for 2 minutes.
2. Melt the ghee or ghee and oil to lukewarm. Add half of the mixture to the roasted besan and make batter without lumps. Let the remaining ghee sit in low flame till needed.
3. Pour the sugar in a non stick vessel with half a cup of water and turn the heat to medium. When the sugar is dissolved (no need to boil for longer time) add the besan batter and stir continuously.
4. Pour the hot ghee into the basen and sugar mixture at regular intervals. Pour two ladle full of ghee at first and stir continuously till the ghee gets absorbed. Repeat the process till all the ghee is emptied out. When you pour the hot ghee into the batter, it sizzles and bubbles at the top. This process helps to cook the batter from the top.
5. Keep stirring for another 5 or 10 minutes till the batter doesn't stick to the vessel. From time to time pour a drop of the batter into cold water and check if it reached soft ball consistency (At around 235° F–240° F the batter dropped into cold water will form a soft, flexible ball. If you remove the ball from water, it will flatten like a pancake after a few moments in your hand).
6. When it reaches soft ball consistency turn the flame to low and let the batter sit for another one minute. Keep stirring till the end.
7. After a minute transfer the batter to a greased plate and let it cool for 10 minutes.
8. When it gets cooled a bit, cut it into pieces using a greased butter knife or regular knife. Don't wait for the batter to get completely cooled. This recipe yields around 16 to 18 pieces.

Modhagam

Ingredients

• Raw rice - 2 cups
• Moong Dhal - 1/4 cup
• Jaggery - 2 cups
• Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
• Cardamom Powder - a pinch
• Ghee - 4 tspn
• Water - 6 cups

health tip

Modhagam dish has protein from moong dhal, carbohydrate from rice, iron and calcium from Jaggery.

Modhagam

method

1. Wash rice and dhal separately. Drain and spread them separately on a towel and let them dry for 2 hours.
2. Grind the rice and dhal separately to a course powder. Make sure the powder is bit bigger than that of rava or sooji. This mix can also be made ahead of a day but make sure to dry the rice and dhal completely for a day.
3. Heat ghee in a kadai and roast the rice dhal powder together.
4. In another pan heat 6 cups of water and dilute the jaggery. Filter it through a strainer to remove any impurities.
5. Add the filtered jaggery water to the roasted dry mix of rice and dhal.
6. Cover the mixture with a lid and let it cook. Open the lid and mix it from time to time making sure the mix is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.

You may speed up the whole cooking process by pressure cooking the mixture for 4 minutes or until you hear the hissing sound of the first whistle, whichever is earlier. Only two teaspoons of ghee is needed for the pressure cooking method.

7. Mix in the cardamom powder and grated coconut when the rice is cooked. Turn off the stove and let it cool.
8. When completely cooled, make them into small balls and steam it in a steamer or idli pan for 5- 8 minutes.