Mysurpa Day is celebrated on September 20 every year to cherish and recognise the traditional South Indian sweet Mysore Pak. The sweet originated in Karnataka quite accidentally during the early 20th century. During the reign of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, who was known for his zeal for culinary arts, his cook, Kakasura Madappa, made this dish. Though the dish was made fortuitously, it was added to the royal thali, and it eventually remained as the king’s favourite sweet. It was Madappa who named the sweet ‘Mysore Pak’ when the king asked for its name, simply combining the place’s name and the cooking process. Madappa’s variety was a stiff, porous version.
According to native lore, the king asked Madappa to set up a shop outside the court to sell the sweet so that the commoners could also relish the delicacy.
Eventually, the fame and flavour of Mysore Pak travelled far beyond the borders of Karnataka. The day is observed in memory of NK Mahadeva Iyer, the owner of Sri Krishna Sweet House, who popularised this South Indian sweet widely. Now, let’s make a soft ghee Mysore Pak.
Keep a thick-bottomed pan on the stove over a medium flame and add the gram flour. Keep stirring the flour for around three minutes, until it becomes aromatic and slightly roasted. Transfer the roasted gram flour into another bowl; otherwise, the heat from the pan will burn it.
Now, slightly heat the ghee until it melts; remove it immediately; don’t overheat the ghee.
Now, add the clarified butter to the bowl and mix it well to get a smooth paste.
Before moving on to the cooking process, prepare the tray to set the sweet. In a glass or steel tray, add some ghee and spread it all over. If you have parchment paper, you may place that too so that the sweet can be taken out without it sticking to the container and breaking into pieces.
Now, in a thick-bottomed pan, add sugar and ½ cup of water. Then turn the stove on. Now, stir well to make the sugar syrup. Once the sugar syrup starts to boil, stir constantly and allow it to boil for around two minutes. Add the ghee and besan mixture to the syrup and keep stirring non-stop. Make sure that the flame is maintained at a medium level. After two minutes, add ¼ cup of ghee and stir for one minute. Now, add ¼ cup of ghee and resume stirring for one minute. Add the rest of the ghee and stir for two more minutes, and then immediately pour the mixture into the ghee-glazed pan. Let it sit for two hours, and once it’s completely cooled(decorate it with chopped nuts if needed), cut into desired shapes and enjoy.