HOW TO MAKE 2 INGREDIENT CRUSHED PEANUT AND JAGGERY CHIKKI
WHAT IS CHIKKI?
Chikki means brittle and is available in India throughout the year. It is mainly found in bus and railway stations as a convenient snack on the go. Chikki can be prepared with ingredients like peanuts, almonds, cashews, sesame or mixed nuts. Sometimes, you can also find varieties with puffed rice (mamara) and coconut. Chikki recipes can be prepared with either sugar or jaggery. Have a look at our other chikki recipes Tal Papdi or Til Chikki Rose Pistachio and Coconut Til Gajak Mixed Seeds and Jaggery Fudge
SOFT CRUSHED PEANUT BRITTLE
Chikki (brittle) is a universally popular snack from the Western part of India (Gujarat), but is made in a similar manner all over the country. Peanuts can also be called groundnut, singdana, shengdana or moogphali/moongfali. Therefore, there are many different names for this snack – Singdana chikki, Moongfali Chikki or Groundnut chikki. Crushed Peanut Chikki is a delicious traditional snack or dessert that is made with peanuts, jaggery and sometimes ghee. Only a teaspoon of ghee is required. This delicacy is packed with immense health benefits and nutrition, if eaten in moderation. This is due to the combination of vital vitamins, minerals and proteins of peanuts and zinc, iron of jaggery. However, this chikki is not necessarily healthy as it is made with plenty of jaggery! This particular recipe of Crushed Peanut Brittle is soft. I have always preferred this soft type of chikki where the jaggery does not harden but retains its moist texture and its toffee-like taste. This means you can take an easy bite of the crushed peanut jaggery bar and the jaggery instantly melts in your mouth. This is different to other Crushed Peanut Chikki recipes where the chikki are deliberately made hard so that they have a snap texture. The peanuts are very lightly crushed so that some nuts remain whole and others are broken. This also helps the chikki to be soft. The crushed nuts make the chikki easy to cut and easier to eat as well. This makes this crushed peanut chikki suitable for all ages.
KARANGA PAK
This soft peanut chikki is one of my Dad’s favourite sweets. So much so, that he insisted that my Mum taught him the recipe – she was quite happy to oblige! As he is East-African Indian, he calls this particular recipe Karanga Paak. In Swahili, Karanga means Peanut.
WINTER AND CHIKKI
Chikki can be enjoyed throughout the year in Indian households. However, ancient wisdom passed down by elders advises us to eat chikki during the winter months. In cooler climates, ingredients such as peanuts and jaggery are consumed a lot in Indian cuisine as way to warm the body. These delicacies are therefore prepared and enjoyed by all around the winter festivals like Makarsankranti, Uttrayan and Lohri, especially in North and Western states of India. If you are looking for an easy Indian winter warmer recipe that you can make on the cheap, peanut brittle it is!
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INDIAN STYLE PEANUT BRITTLE AND WESTERN PEANUT BRITTLE
Usually the classic western style peanut brittle is crunchy, sticky and thin. The peanut brittle recipe is prepared with sugar and salt is added so there are sweet and salty flavours. It has a characteristic SNAP! sound when it is broken. Generally, it is served with tea or coffee but it goes perfectly with ice cream too. Indian-style peanut brittle has more of a fudge like texture. It is a little softer when broken and is more crumbly. This style of brittle will not stick to your teeth! Furthermore, no salt is added and jaggery is used as the sweetener rather than sugar.
INGREDIENTS FOR CRUSHED PEANUT CHIKKI
- Peanuts are an integral ingredient of Indian cooking, and are easily available everywhere. For this recipe you will need unsalted peanuts, either with red or pink skin will do a great job. If you are lucky enough you will be able to buy roasted and skinned peanuts in an Indian grocery store. If you can’t, you will just a little more time and effort in this recipe. Whether you peel the nuts or not is up to you. You can make this chikki with the skin still on the nuts. You can also totally remove it, giving you a yellow golden chikki. I like a happy medium somewhere in between. I skin most of the peanuts but leave a little here and there to get a little colour in the chikki. Ensure the peanuts are fresh – nothing worse than rancid nuts!
- Jaggery known as gor or gud, is a must for traditional singdana chikki. It can easily be found in Indian grocery stores. If you can’t find jaggery brown or muscovado sugar comes close as an alternative. The peanut and jaggery fudge colour will depend on what type or what colour of jaggery you have used. The darker the jaggery, the darker the chikki and a more robust flavour. We have noticed that different types of jaggery in grocery stores yields varying results. Sometimes the quality of the jaggery varies and we have struggled to make good quality sweets. In this case, unfortunately it is trial and error as you can’t tell how a block of jaggery will function until you try it.
- Ghee you won’t need much of this stuff, only around a teaspoon. I only used the ghee to line the plate that I set the chikki in. Instead of ghee, unsalted butter would work too. For a vegan version, omit the ghee totally or use coconut oil or a vegan butter to line the plate.
HOW TO MAKE CRUSHED PEANUT CHIKKI
This chikki is made in three main steps. First step is to roast the peanuts, second step to melt jaggery perfectly (in Gujarati this process called ‘Gor No Payo Banavo’ and last or third step is to set the chikki. First step- roast the peanuts Second step – melt the jaggery Third step – set the chikki
OTHER JAGGERY RECIPES
Gujarati Gor Churma Ladoo Gor Na Shakkarpara Gundar Pak Gujarati Raab Almond Sukhadi As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations! Don’t forget to follow me on social media using the buttons below – I can’t wait to see you all there!
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Note – This recipe has been updated from our recipe archives with new images and content, but the recipe remains the same. First time published in February 25th, 2012.
