Also Known As Munthiri Pak, Cashew Burfi. Jidipappu Pakam.

Okay, let me assume that you are all aware of Mysore Pak. A famous South Indian sweet! If you have no idea, take a look here. Now, lets see what distinguishes Munthiri Pak from the Mysore Pak. To tell you the truth, “nothing much”! While the original Mysore pak calls for the bengal gram powder, my version of Munthiri Pak is made of coarsely ground cashew nuts powder. Hence, it is much more denser, rich and very sinful indulgence. In my opinion it has an unique mouth feel.

Well, for a person who grew up wolfing down Adyar Aanandha Bawan goodies and Shri Krishna sweets for almost 365 days a year! The very sight of Munthiri Pak in the dinner table signals something special! Oh yeah…it indicates my Parent’s wedding anniversary. So, in the beginning…I thought its only a coincidence that this peculiar sweet was there in my house on the month of August, each year! I think the tradition continued without our knowledge. Later, I discovered that this local sweet made appearance in my home just on one particular occasion! This led me into thinking…out of so many choice…why would Dad keep buying this from an unknown sweet stall??? Besides the point, that my Mommy loves it…there is only one sweet stall who would make them and interestingly my Dad buys it just once every year. Isn’t that enough to cling over.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cashew nuts
• 11/2  cup sugar
• pinch of cardamom
• 1 tbsp ghee

Note The original recipe calls for ladles and ladles of ghee, which I completely ignored for health reasons.

Method

Coarsely grind the cashew nuts and cardamom together, set aside. Prepare a strong sugar syrup till stringy consistency. Add cashew nuts powder and continue cooking over low heat. Add ghee too. Once it throws up without any moisture, pour the contents into a well-greased plate. Pat them and allow this to cool down to room temperature. Cut them up into squares. Serve at room temperature or well-chilled, as you please.