Uttrayan (Makar sankranti) marks the end of winter and start of spring, it is also the first harvest festival of the year. In Gujarat on the day of Uttrayan the sky is filled with millions of kites in the morning and lanterns and hot air balloons ons in the night.
And where is there is festival, there is food! Chikki (peanut and sesame) is a very common snack to have while enjoying kite flying. Both peanut and sesame chikki are a popular winter snack and you will find them on the terrace of every household on the day of Uttrayan.
The recipe is straight forward, only thing to take care is cooking the jaggery until it reaches hard ball consistency. Otherwise the chikki won’t be brittle, it will be very chewy.
Happy Cooking!
Peanut Chikki
A popular winter snack of India, commonly enjoyed during the kite flying festival (Uttrayan)
Ingredients
- 2 cups peanuts blanched
- 2 cups grated jaggery I use Laxmi Brand natural jaggery
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tsp ghee
Instructions
- Roast the peanuts on a low flame until crunchy.
- Once cooled, crush the peanuts into a coarse mixture. Add cardamom and nutmeg powder to the mix.
- Keep a bowl of water ready to test the consistency of jaggery. Also have a parchment paper ready to roll the chikki.
- In a medium skillet melt the jaggery along with water and ghee on a medium heat. Continuously stir the jaggery and cook until it reached hard ball consistency.
- Hard ball consistency - when you drop jaggery syrup in a bowl of water, it forms a hard ball.
- Turn off the flame and stir in the peanut mix to form a dough.
- Work quickly; transfer the mix on a prepared parchment paper and roll quickly to desired thickness.
- While the chikki is still hot make the cuts.
- Let the chikki cooled down completely before breaking into pieces.
- Store the chikki at room temperature in an airtight container
