A - Z Karnataka Recipe Series ~ M for Mysore Pak

So far in my 'A - Z' Karnataka recipe series,
A - Akki Halbai
B - Biscuit Roti
C - Congress Kadalekayi
D - Davanagere Benne Dose
E - Ellu Pajji
F - Field Beans / Avarekalu Payasa
G - Girmit
H - Hitakida Avarekalu Huli
I - Iyengar Bakery Style Masala Toast
J - Jolada Vade
K - Kumbalakayi Idli
L - Limbe Hannina Gojju

My daughter loves and eats only one Indian sweet and my husband loves two more. The common factor between them being Mysore pak and so this beloved sweet is made frequently at our home. I therefore could not leave out this iconic sweet dish from my Karnataka recipe series. Mysore pak or Mysore paaka as it was originally coined is one of the traditional and popular sweets from Karnataka. The term 'Mysore' refers to the place where the dish originated. Where as the term 'pak', pronounced 'paa-k' comes from the word 'paaka' referring to the sugar syrup. 

Mysore, colloquially called Mysuru is one of the important cities in the south Indian state of Karnataka presently and was the capital city of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom for about six centuries. The city of Mysore known for it's royal heritage is the cultural capital of the state and is associated with several iconic things. Mysore palace, Mysore dasara, Mysore silk sarees, Mysore sandalwood soap, Mysore mallige (jasmine) to name a few. And Mysore pak, Mysore masala dose and Mysore saaru from the culinary point of view.

The sweet dish originated in the royal kitchens of Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. The dish was created and named by his chef Kakasura Madappa when he had to present a sweet dish to the king in a hurry. To this day, his descendants run sweet shop in Mysore where Mysore pak are sold as hot cakes. They sell innovative ones made with milk, almonds and cashews as well.

The rich, melt in mouth Mysore pak basically needs three ingredients - chickpea flour, sugar and ghee. Vegetable oil aka vanaspathi / dalda can be used in lieu of ghee though ghee version tastes superior. Some sweet shop versions have turmeric as well for color which is basically not needed. Sugar and water are cooked to reach a sticky syrup and then toasted chickpea flour and ghee are added in parts quickly and vigorously stirred. The mixture turns frothy and porous and starts to come off the pan when done. (I usually cook quarter the recipe and it takes about only 2 to 3 minutes of stirring / cooking after all the ingredients are added.)

The sweet can be cooked to soft melt in mouth versions to hard crumbly kind. Some of the store versions have a light brownish tinge at the bottom. Knowing when to stop is the key in making Mysore pak. Removing off the heat before done doesn't set the Mysore pak and cooking longer turns the sweet harder. The ridges you see on the surface of my Mysore pak is courtesy of my husband. I poured the cooked mixture into the plate and tapped it to set and went away. My husband thought that it needs to be leveled. Instead of using the back of the spatula, he held the spatula upright and kind of stabbed it. 😕

Ingredients:
1 chickpea flour 
1.5 cup melted ghee
1.5 cup sugar

Directions:
* Melt the ghee, if it is not done yet. Grease a small plate with edges, with ghee and keep aside. Use a square shaped one if you have it.

* Sieve and toast chickpea flour on medium flame until you start to feel the aroma, stirring continuously. Turn off the stove and keep it aside.

* Add sugar and a little water just to wet the sugar (about 3 to 4 tbsp. water) in a kadai / pan. Keep stirring and boil until the solution is slightly sticky when touched with fingers. There is no need to bring the sugar solution to any thread consistency.

* Add quickly chickpea flour and ghee in turns to sugar solution, stirring continuously. Take care that no lumps are formed. 

* Cook stirring continuously until chickpea flour is cooked. Initially it bubbles and turns frothy. We get to see the mixture turning porous after a few minutes. 



* Keep stirring until the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan.

* Pour the mixture immediately into the greased plate and level it with the back of a spatula.

* Leave it for a couple of minutes and then score it with a knife to squares / diamonds. 

* Cut them into squares once they completely cool down and store them in air tight container.
 

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'Kodo Millet' Paramannam / Arikala Paramannam

After last week's A - Z Karnataka Recipes theme, I am moving onto the theme of festival recipes this week keeping in mind the upcoming Sankranthi festival. Somehow savory and sweet pongal versions and paramannam kind of dishes have become synonymous in the southern parts of India with this harvest festival. However my mother was mentioning recently in one of our chats that she doesn't remember a single Sankranthi festival meal where her mother had prepared a pongali / paramannam. Her mother would prepare ariselu / athirasam or boondi laddu. Of course, ariselu, a traditional sweet dish uses the harvested rice and would have made perfect sense for the season if one didn't mind the extra labor involved in pounding the rice and the deep frying part. My mother has somehow moved the dish to the Diwali category since it is prepared commonly during then in Bangalore area and also times it during our visits to India since it happens to be my husband's favorite sweet dish. 

My mother is also content preparing a sweet pongal dish like this albeit a traditional version using rice on Sankranthis. My version today uses kodo millet which tastes utterly delicious, almost similar to rice and comes handy if avoiding rice. The recipe can be easily doubled and the preparation is quite simple and easy one. If you have any other millet handy like proso, barnyard, foxtail or little millet, they can be substituted for kodo millet here. Even quinoa, cracked wheat can be used. Or stick to rice, the original version. A little dal is always added while making rice based sweet dishes for auspicious occasions since the plain rice versions are made during death anniversaries. The color of the dish depends upon the color of the jaggery being used in the recipe. No need to fret or run to store in case if one doesn't have jaggery on hand. It can be easily replaced by sugar. Actually I enjoy the sugar and the coconut combination in the traditional rice version more. And coming to edible camphor, a tiny pinch is all that matters for that divine taste which resembles the temple prasadms. A tad more would result in an overbearing flavor. Ghee can be used as generously as one would wish. And finally don't skip the coconut if possible since it enhances the flavor of the dish. 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup kodo millet
1 tbsp. split yellow gram / Bengal gram (Moong dal or Chana dal) 
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup grated fresh coconut
1/2 cup powdered jaggery
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
A pinch of edible camphor
1 to 2 tbsp. ghee
1 tbsp. raisins
1 tbsp. cashews

Directions:
1. Rinse kodo millet and dal with water and drain. Pressure cook kodo millet and dal adding 1/2 cup milk for 3 whistles. Add a small spoon to the millet container while cooking to prevent milk from boiling over. (It can be cooked directly in a pot as well on medium flame and the liquid quantity may need to be adjusted as needed (usually more). Milk can be replaced with water in this step to avoid the milk from boiling over while cooking. Keep stirring to avoid millet sticking to the bottom of the pan while cooking or use a non stick pot to make the job easier.)  

2. Heat ghee in a small pan and add raisins and cashews. Toast them until cashews turn golden brown and raisins turn plump.

3. Transfer the toasted raisins and cashews with a slotted spoon on to a plate. To the same ghee, add the cooked millet, coconut, jaggery, and cardamom.

4. Mix well and add the remaining milk. Stir well. Cook on medium flame stirring intermittently until the mixture starts to bubble. Simmer on low heat for about 3 - 4 minutes until all the jaggery melts and incorporates into the mixture. Finally add edible camphor if being used and turn off the stove. Add the toasted cashews and raisins as well. Stir well and serve warm. It tastes good even when cold. Leftovers can be refrigerated and warmed before serving.  

Some points to be noted:
1. I directly added jaggery to the millet mixture since it was clean. In case the jaggery appears not clean, melt it separately in a small pan adding small amount of water and filter the solution. There is no need to add too much water since we don't need the paramannam to be very diluted.
2. Sometimes the milk may split when added to jaggery directly and cooked. It has not happened to me but in case if you suspect that to happen and to be on a safer side, the addition of milk can be omitted in step 4. Instead, the milk can be boiled and cooled separately and added to the mixture after turning off the stove.

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Hurigadale Unde / Maa Laddu / Malaadu / Pappula Laddu

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi for those celebrating!

There are going to be Indian sweets and snacks' themed recipes posted this month at my space, as part of the mega marathon I am participating in. There are no recipes posted on Sundays and so there are going to be 26 recipes posted in total. The first week is about sweets and I chose to go with recipes which doesn't need any expertise to try and contains 3 to 5 ingredients at most. Most of them are commonly prepared in my mother's kitchen but I have been too lazy to post them so far. I wanted to utilize this opportunity to record them instead of trying some new or fancy ones. These are tried and tested recipes by family and mostly associated with the south Indian festive season.

The first one are laddus made with fried gram / hurigadale / pappulu - the ones commonly used to make chutneys to go along with south Indian breakfasts like idlis and dosas. These are made in some parts of southern India and are called malaadu in Tamilnadu and hurigadale unde in Karnataka. I had no idea that these were made in Andhra as well until my husband mentioned that his mother used to make them on one of the days during Dasara / Navratri festival. These make a great substitute for besan laddus if you are looking for something similar sans the stirring workout. I would however suggest to stick to besan laddus if you are a great fan of those. These melt in mouth kind laddus are quick and easy to prepare and a perfect recipe for novice cooks. There is nothing to mess up and makes a great Dasara or Diwali treat. Go ahead and try these delicious laddus for the upcoming festivals and you wouldn't be disappointed.

Ingredients: (Yield 14 laddus)
1 cup roasted gram (chutney dal)
1/2 cup (2 tbsp. extra sugar can be added if sweeter laddus are preferred.)
3 cardamom pods
5 tbsp. ghee
1 tbsp. cashew pieces
1 tbsp. raisins (optional)

Directions:
* Finely grind the roasted gram dal and sieve it into a mixing bowl. Grind finely again any coarser dal particles left in the sieve and add it to the bowl.

 * Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods. Grind sugar and cardamom seeds together finely. Add this to the bowl with the ground dal and mix well.

* Heat a tbsp. of ghee (just until hot but not to the smoking point) in a small pan and add cashews and raisins if using. Toast until cashews turn golden brown and raisins turn plump. Turn off the heat and add them along with the ghee to the bowl.
 
* Melt the remaining ghee and add it to the bowl and mix everything well with a spoon.
* Shape the mixture into laddus / small sized balls using your fist. Make sure that each laddu has raisins and cashew pieces in it. 
* Store the laddus in a tight fitting container.



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A - Z Rice Dishes ~ N for Narali Bhaat

Now it's time for something sweeter on this A - Z rice series and here is Narali bhaat. Narali bhaat is a sweetened coconut rice from the state of Maharashtra that is typically prepared on a Narali Pournima day. It happens to be the full moon day in the Hindu calendar month of Shravan (usually August), that also coincides with the Rakhi Pournima / Raksha bandhan day. This yummy dish is traditionally prepared using rice, coconut and a lighter colored jaggery though sugar can be substituted in the absence of the latter. It should be prepared in a such way that each grain stands apart instead of cooking into a mush like the typical rice puddings. The texture reminded me of this dry pongal my mother prepares which happens to be one of my favorite dishes and this one too was equally delicious.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup long grain rice (I used sona masuri.)
1/2 cup shredded fresh / frozen coconut
6 tbsp. powdered jaggery (Increase the quantity if jaggery is not sweeter.)
1/2 tsp. saffron strands  + 1 tbsp. warm milk
2 tbsp. ghee
2 tbsp. dry fruits & nuts (cashews, raisins and almonds)
3 - 4 cloves
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
1 cup water

Method:
* Wash the rice in two exchanges of water, drain and keep it aside for about 30 to 40 minutes.
* Soak saffron in a tbsp. warm milk or warm water for about 5 minutes.
* Toast nuts and raisins in a pan using a tbsp. of ghee until the nuts turn golden brown and the raisins puff up. Transfer them into a small bowl. Add the remaining ghee to the same pan and toast the cloves until they puff up. Add rice next and saute so that the grains are well coated with the ghee. Next pour in the water to the pan. 
* At this point, the mixture can be transferred to a pressure cooker for faster and hassle-free cooking or can be continued to cook in the pan. 
If using a pressure cooker, cook the mixture for 3 whistles and turn off the stove. If using the pan, bring the water to a rolling boil and then lower the heat. Cover and cook until the rice is done and all the water is absorbed.
* Meanwhile, heat coconut, jaggery and cardamom in another pan and cook until the jaggery melts. Add the coconut - jaggery mixture and the saffron milk to the above cooked rice and mix gently to combine, not breaking the rice grains. Cook the mixture again, covered for another 4 to 5 minutes. 
* Garnish with the toasted dry fruits and nuts and serve it warm.

Recipes so far in A - Z Rice Dishes,
A for Achaari Chole Pulao
B for Bhuna Khichuri
C for Chintapandu Pulihora
D for Dindigul Thalapakatti Veg Biryani
E for Ellorai / Ellotharai  
F for Fodnicha Bhaat 
G for Gongura Pulihora 
H for Hare Moong ki Chaaswaali Khichdi 
I for Iyengar Style Kadambam 
J for Jodhpuri Vegetable Pulao 
K for Kaju - Karivepaku Annam 
L for Lilva Khichdi
M for Mamidikaaya - Kobbari Pulihora 

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