A sudden craving for a sweet! How about something sweet which also exercises the teeth! Homemade chikki, ‘brittle’ as it is called in western desserts. Wishing everyone a happy Sri Krishna Janmashtami. I wanted to post all recipes a few days before the festival but because of an unscheduled maintenance on the website I had to move them to post today. Chikki is made with roasted peanuts, pistachios or almonds (badam) or any kind of hard dry nuts. It is made by caramelizing sugar or jaggery and the roasted nuts are quickly stirred in and left to cool and then broken into chikkis or brittles. Childhood favourite for many, one could buy these for a small amount and savour them while returning from school. Try other favourite bakery style items at home.
- ¾ Cup groundnuts/shenga
- 2 Tsp ghee
- ½ Cup sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 Tbsp water (+1 Tbsp)
- 1 small pinch baking soda
- Dry roast shenga/groundnuts till light colour appears on their skin
- De-skin them by lightly rubbing them
- Add them to a bag/cover and pound them lightly
- On low flame, add ghee to pan
- As soon as ghee melts, add sugar
- Add salt
- Add 1 Tbsp water, mix well
- Sugar becomes liquidy and then becomes grainy
- It has to start caramelizing, if it does not start melting, add 1 more Tbsp water and mix well till sugar melts and caramelizes
- Add a pinch of baking soda as soon as sugar becomes light golden. Turn off heat.
- Mix roasted shenga/groundnuts
- Pat on greased pan, cut into chikkis when it cools slightly but before it hardens completely
- Enjoy them as a little snack whenever you want
Do NOT increase the heat/flame at any point, sugar burns quickly
Baking soda creates an airy mixture in which the groundnuts can be added to, which makes them light and brittle
Powder groundnuts to the texture that you want. I like to see groundnuts in the chikki, actually, I like both 🙂
Stepwise:
Dry roast shenga/groundnuts till light colour appears on their skin
De-skin them by lightly rubbing them
Add them to a bag/cover and pound them lightly
On low flame, add ghee to pan
As soon as ghee melts, add sugar
Add salt
Add 1 Tbsp water, mix well
Sugar becomes liquidy and then becomes grainy
It has to start caramelizing, if it does not start melting, add 1 more Tbsp water and mix well till sugar melts and caramelizes
Add a pinch of baking soda as soon as sugar becomes light golden. Turn off heat
Mix roasted shenga/groundnuts
Pat on greased pan, cut into chikkis when it cools slightly but before it hardens completely
Enjoy them as a little snack whenever you want
