What is Mohan Thal (Thaal)?

Mohan Thal or Thaal is a traditional sweet, a fudge in reality, made with besan gram flour, and dried fruits.

It has strong religious connections because it is associated with Lord Krishna who is said to have found it his favourite confectionary. Lord Krishna had many names and Mohan was one of them hence the tie up with the title of this sweet. 

Special occasions and festivals such as Janamshtmi, Kartik Poornima and many others are often celebrated by the preparation of this sweet too.

The sweet is associated with Gujarat and Rasthajan in particular. Like Gulab Jaamun it is usually prepared with khoya (khoa or mawa) but to save time and effort milk powder is used nowadays. Besan gram flour is available from all good Indian supermarkets.

If you know how to prepare fudge then this recipe is reasonably straightforward.

Ingredients:

• 125g besan flour (Gram Flour). The thicker type is preferable.
• 75g to 125g ghee 
• 2½ tablespoons – milk (full cream).  Milk is easier to work with.  
• 125g sugar 
• 125g mawa/khoya/milk powder.  It does mean adding about an extra 2 tbsp of water to mix the drier milk ingredients. The water should disappear into the mixture.
• chopped cashews – about 12 nuts required
• 12 almonds – sliced and chopped  
• 18 pistachio – finely chopped
• small cardamoms – at least 6 but 7 is probably enough, peeled and ground to a powder. Green cardamom powder also works well (60g)
• 1.5 table spoon chironji (optional)
• 1.5 table spoons of melon seeds
• 3 or 4 crushed peppercorns to add some heat (optional).

Preparation:

1. Sieve the gram flour in a bowl.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of melted ghee into the flour and knead it well by rubbing between the palms. The texture becomes rougher like a lightly rough powder.
3. Add the milk or hydrated milk powder to continue making a dough.
4. Cover the dough and keep it aside for 20 minutes.
5. Add sugar and equivalent water to form a chashni (sugar syrup).
6. Add all the dry fruits and other spices but not the nuts into this syrup.
7. Add oil to a large heavy-bottomed pan and heat.
8. Fry the dough and remaining ghee in the hot oil.
9. As soon as you are able to smell the fragrance coming from oil, add any milk powder/mawa/khoya to it and stir the mixture well.
10. Pour the chashni into the mixture once the besan and mawa turns brown.
11. Cook for 6-7 minutes.
12. Take a well greased plate and spread the mixture evenly onto it.
13. Garnish it with, crushed pepper, chopped almonds and pistachios.
14. Cut the sweet layer into small small pieces according to size and wish.

The mixture will freeze in 3-4 hours. It can also be stored in an air-tight container and can be refrigerated for 2 weeks.