Mysore Pak

 Good morning my Dear blog followers, how is it going??  Answer for that, might not be 'boring', anymore!  We are all in this, not sure to say, whether its beginning or middle or the end!? But lets hope we are nearing the end of this pandemic! 

Its becoming like a tradition that, year end I write a blog and connect with you all! That's not what I plan for, but somehow last year also, I wrote at the end of the year and this year too! But will not, definitely not make it a tradition, will write more blogs and share more recipes, often. But I miss blogging and writing and sharing with you all and thats always on back of my mind....!

Let's for a change, instead of cribbing about pandemic, how boring and how stuck we are at homes, can we share what good things have happened in our personal lives and how we all have managed, survived and actually do the best, even staying at home!? We have gotten out some hidden, good things!

Life threw us to this horrible pandemic and it came to still, lockdowns, restrictions, masks, social distancing, quarantine, limited access to basic needs, which in turn, made people to pile up, stock up essentials to non-essentials, crazily to an extent of being selfish to even think, if I buy 10 cans of milk, there will be shortage for the next person to buy! Meeting your own people became scary and concerning of spreading the virus!

Well, did we learn anything from this?? I guess we did, initially , we stumbled, fell, but stood up, found new ways to connect, share, cooperate, bond, care, and found new ways to deal with day to day life! Thats incredible, I feel! We have done, so far a very good job, it's exactly 9 months, to be very precise, 4 days short in my part of the world, when schools got shut down, all essentials got shutdown and had to stay home!! Its 9 months, we are in this!! Kids and the old people affected the most, in my opinion! 

But they have survived too, actually done an awesome job, must say, very proud of them! As 9 months are over, I guess, we are all, just figured out how to sail through this.......??!! 

When I just sit back and think.....well, pandemic has given lot of time, for all of us to 'think'! I hope you agree with me? So when I sit back and think......pandemic has taught us to think out of the box and I just feel, we all have aced it! Everything can be done virtual, sitting at home, anything can be accomplished!

Thats incredible, I feel! We have done so much, sitting at home.  We have learnt and respect, appreciate, most importantly, appreciate and value, lot of things! Appreciate and value freedom! Regret all the things, we have taken for granted, small little things have made us to appreciate, value and respect!

Yes, we have lost lot of lives, a lot, which cannot be undone, it's a huge loss, a loss which cannot be replaced!! A lot of health care workers even to this moment, is struggling, going through hardships and tough time every moment, trying to save lives, putting their life and their family lives at risk!! I feel, we all should be more responsible in our day to day life, so that we can help healthcare workers by  minimizing our exposure, and that way reduce the no. of cases and landing up in the hospital!  Thats the only way we can help the healthcare workers who are struggling day and night to save our lives, and as well we can see light at the end of tunnel! Thats the only way, we can reduce spreading, by following just the basic rule of staying home as much as we can, wearing masks, when its totally necessary to go out, and stay away from lot of crowd and maintain social distancing! Can we not do that much? Yes we can, we did and saw the results....but it wasn't enough....we should have continued, better late than never, even now, we can start again, following all those simple things, which can save lives!

WOW! It became too serious.....well, life matters and life is valuable and it should matter and it should be a serious thing! So let's all continue to follow guidelines and be safe, be healthy and as well care and be kind to everyone, by following the guidelines! 

One thing, in pandemic has happened, commonly all over the world, is learn new cuisines, cook healthy as well, explore new kinds, types of cooking! And I also did the same......not only I tried making pizza, naan bread from scratch at home, but also learnt and tried some very traditional cooking, which I had thought to be very complicated and difficult to make, as it required certain amount of skill and expertise! 

Today, am sharing one such recipe, which is very delicate and very hard decision making, when it comes to a point, if its done or requires little more cooking! That decision changes the whole taste, texture of the dish! That's Mysore Pak! Its my Amma's one of the bestest recipes and she used to do effortlessly and every time it used to come out awesome and fantastic! I never tried all these years, thinking its the hardest to try....but my brother inspired me, motivated me to do so! Deepavali, is Festival of Lights, as well festival of sweets/desserts! I tried for the first time to make Mysore pak and it came out so very good, like Amma's, and wished she was here, to taste mine!! This is a tribute to her, today sharing her best recipe of Mysore Pak, hope you will try and enjoy it as much as my family and friends did! Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:(To get the desired result, please follow the measurements and steps as it is in the recipe)

Besan/chickpea flour/kadalehittu-1 cup

Ghee-melted-1.5 cup

Sugar-2 cups

Water-1/2-3/4 th cup

Cardamom powder-1/4 tsp

Method:

Grease a plate with ghee and keep it aside. 

Melt ghee, in a wide pan and Besan on a medium heat, keep stirring until frothy and turn off the heat and keep it aside. Don't cook more than 3 mins.

In a separate pan, add 2 cups sugar, and add 3/4 cup of water, I suggested 1/2 cup to 3/4th, but I used 3.4th cup of water, bring it to boil and once sugar is dissolved completely and boiling evenly, add the ghee-began mixture and stir constantly.  This step is very very necessary, that you need to keep on stirring, not even leaving for a moment, and do it on a slow-medium heat at this point.  You can add cardamom powder at this point. Keep staring until it leaves the sides of the pan, you can see small holes forming and color bit changed, at this point, turn off the heat and immidetly pout it into the greased plate and don't try to tap or even the mixture. After few mins, you can mark either Dimond or square shapes.  Super yummy, tasty Mysore pak is ready to eat in couple of hours!!