Come August we start celebrating different festivals. One of the first ones is to worship the serpent god, nagara chauthi and naga panchmi. It is widely celebrated throughout India. Amidst all the celebrations we generally like to make simple and easy sweets. That is where our age old traditional sweets come to our rescue. In Karnataka we make a simple ladoo with sesame seeds called yellu chigli or til ke ladoo.
Yellu chigli is made with black sesame seeds and jaggery. It is quite easy to make and is one of the most important sweets along with tambittu (roasted chana ladoo). Sesame seeds are fried till they release aroma then mixed with jaggery powder and fresh ghee. Yellu chigli are smaller in size as they should be consumed in small quantities.
Make sure you use unpolished black sesame seeds and do not forget to pick and clean them. Sometimes there might be a small stone or two which you certainly do not want in your ladoo. Checking is always better! Try more traditional sweets from FOI, akki haalbai, shenga unde, tambittu, rava unde, besan ladoo, kobbri mithai. Happy festival season from FOI! Try more yellu/sesame recipes from FOI, yellu gojju, puliyogare
- ½ Cup kari yellu/black sesame/kaala til
- ½ heaped grated/shaved jaggery
- 2-3 Tbsp groundnuts/peanuts/moongphali
- 2 Tbsp ghee
- 2 powdered cardamom
- Clean, pick sesame seeds
- In a hot pan, start toasting sesame seeds on low heat
- Keep toasting until it feels very warm to the touch and releases an aroma
- Keep it aside
- Next in the same pan start toasting groundnuts/peanuts/moongphali
- Once they turn crisp and lightly change colour, remove from heat
- Remove the skins by rubbing them in the pan, discard the skins
- Put these with the sesame seeds
- In the same pan, melt the ghee and add jaggery
- Mix well and start melting the ghee on low heat
- After the jaggery has completely melted (takes about a minute or so) sprinkle cardamom powder
- Next powder the black sesame and groundnuts into a powder
- Add this to the melted jaggery
- Mix very well and ensure there are no lumps
- Grease your hands and start making small ladoos or chigli
- You can also make a dip in the centre by impressing your thumb
- Serve as prasada/offering on Naga chauthi and panchmi, consume in small quantities
If the mixture is very dry, add little ghee to make chigli
The same can be made with safed til/white sesame seeds/biLi yellu
Yellu Chigli Stepwise:
Clean, pick sesame seeds
In a hot pan, start toasting sesame seeds on low heat
Keep toasting until it feels very warm to the touch and releases an aroma
Keep it aside
Next in the same pan start toasting groundnuts/peanuts/moongphali
Once they turn crisp and lightly change colour, remove from heat
Remove the skins by rubbing them in the pan, discard the skins
Put these with the sesame seeds
In the same pan, melt the ghee and add jaggery
Mix well and start melting the ghee on low heat
After the jaggery has completely melted (takes about a minute or so) sprinkle cardamom powder
Next powder the black sesame and groundnuts into a powder
Add this to the melted jaggery
Mix very well and ensure there are no lumps
Grease your hands and start making small ladoos or chigli
You can also make a dip in the centre by impressing your thumb
Serve as prasada/offering on Naga chauthi and panchmi, consume in small quantities
