Shital's-Kitchen: Kaju Mesuk

Today is Ekadashi: 11th lunar day and Ekadashi after Diwali is celebrated as Dev Diwali. This day is marked as the auspicious day for wedding in Hindu calendar. It begins by a ceremony where lord Krishna (Vishnu) marries Tulsi (plant). This is also one of my favorite festivals, and we celebrate it by making traditional Nav Choki rangoli or nine squares rangoli. Here is a Mythological story of the wedding of Tulsi and Vishnu. Very interesting to read. Festivals and celebrations bring us close to one another. It makes us more social. Away from our country, I received pictures from my mom back home with beautiful decoration of the Tulsi Vivah Celebrations. I will post more Tulsi Vivah pictures on my Facebook page.

For this special occasion, I learned to make a traditional sweet. Yes, it is a big deal for me! Being able to learn a traditional recipe is really important. It keeps our culture alive. Mesuk is one of them! I have had mesuk before many many years, and just love it. My aunt makes amazing mesuk, and after getting the recipe, understanding the concept of technique, and discussing the dos and don'ts of this recipe over the phone, I finally nailed it!!!! This is my same aunt, Lilufui who taught me traditional Chyawanprash. She is a bag of treasures! She explained me the recipe so well that I could picture it happening. And I had to give it a try. I was ready for the failure in the first try. You always learn better after failing, so it is worth it! Normally Mesuk is made with besan/chickpea flour and by adding lot of ghee. After the recipe is made, excess ghee is poured out. But Lilufui gave me the exact measurement...she said that you don't need to add excess and pour it out. And indeed, mesuk was ready in the proportion of ingredients she mentioned. I also looked up online too. I was surprised to find that our famous Kutchi or Gujarati Mesuk or Mesur Paak is so similar or same as South Indian Mysore Paak. Mesuk is crisp sweet with the porous texture and should melt in the mouth. I tried besan mesul too and will post my recipe soon. Paak is a technique of making sweets using sugar syrup. We make badam paak, pista paak and so many other sweets with it.

Today being Ekadashi fast I tried my aunt, Lilufui's Kaju Mesuk which is made from cashew nuts powdered. The sweet is very delicious, delicate, and melts in the mouth. It is very easy to make but the technique can be tricky, so paying 100% attention is the key to success. There was a science experiment in my kitchen :) In my first try itself, I obtained excellent results. My husband was super happy. He couldn't believe I made this. That made me super happy!! :)

Ingredients to make Kaju Mesuk

1 cup powdered cashew nut
1 cup ghee
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. slivered pistachios

It is very important to keep everything ready before you start.
1. Keep 1 cup powdered cashews in a bowl.
2. Add sugar and water into a heavy bottom utensil.
3. Put ghee into separate container that can be heated.
4. Keep 2-3 tbsp. slivered pistachios.
5. Grease a thali or a plate with ghee and keep it aside

Heat sugar and water to form 1 string sugar syrup. This can be tricky so do not add lot of water. You want the syrup to be bubbling and turn transparent.
Meanwhile in a separate bowl heat ghee on low heat. The temperature of ghee should be slightly hot and not very hot or smoky.
Once the sugar syrup is almost done: In a pan, heat 2 tbsp. ghee and roast cashew powder for a minute. Add bubbling hot sugar syrup and mix well for a minute.
The main step starts now: Keep cashew mixture on low heat. Add spoonful of hot ghee at a time into the cashew mixture and stir the mixture in one direction. Keep adding spoonful of ghee till the entire ghee is used up. You will notice the reaction here as the hot mixture bubbles and froths up. this will cause holes or porous texture of mesuk.
Pour bubbling hot mixture immediately in greased thali and sprinkle slivered pistachios on it.
Leave it untouched. Do not spread the mixture with the spatula. Let it set on its own.
After 5 minutes cut into pieces.
Let it cool completely before removing each piece.You will get a light top and bottom and darker center. This is perfect shaded Mesuk.

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

Heat sugar and water to form 1 string sugar syrup. This can be tricky so do not add lot of water. You want the syrup to be bubbling and turn transparent.

Meanwhile in a separate bowl heat ghee on low heat. The temperature of ghee should be slightly hot and not very hot or smoky.

Once the sugar syrup is almost done: In a pan, heat 2 tbsp. ghee and roast cashew powder for a minute. Add bubbling hot sugar syrup and mix well for a minute.

Add bubbling hot sugar syrup and mix well for a minute.

The main step starts now: Keep cashew mixture on low heat. Add spoonful of hot ghee at a time into the cashew mixture and stir the mixture in one direction. Keep adding spoonful of ghee till the entire ghee is used up. You will notice the reaction here as the hot mixture bubbles and froths up. this will cause holes or porous texture of mesuk.