Jaggery Peanut Chikki / Desi Peanut Brittle
Roasted peanuts coated by caramelized jaggery to make perfect crunchy treat!
This winter treats are must haves during Makar Sankranti/Uttarayan, festival of kites which happens every year on January 14th. It is a tradition to make these chikki on this day in many households. Growing up I have seen my grand maas and my mom make them every year with not just peanut but with sesame seeds and murmura (Indian version of rice crispy). I absolutely love them! My kids know only rice crispy that is made with murmura and jaggery till now LOL. I am afraid that they are going to know about the real rice crispy treats made in US and going to tell me that I lied to them this whole time!
Since I have moved to the states, I surely have missed the kite flying festival but this peanut chikki has helped me feel little bit less home sick for sure!
This is a absolute favorite treat in my household, how about you?
Happy and Healthy Eating!
Jaggery Peanut Chiki
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Jaggery prefer soft jaggery, if using hard jaggery cut them in tiny pieces
- 1 cup Roasted Peanuts skin removed
- 1 tsp Ghee or Coconut Oil
- 1 pinch Baking Powder
Instructions
- Dry roast peanuts in a pan on medium heat for 6-10 minutes until raw smell of peanuts is gone, stirring continuously. If you can find raw peanuts without the skin, it would be lot easier.
- Once roasted, keep them aside until completely cooled down.
- Once cooled down, remove the skin by rubbing them between your palms or rubbing them in a rough cloth towel.
- Completely remove the skin and give it a one or two pulses in the food processor. It should not break too much, just a pulse or two will give it a good texture. You can leave them whole or half if you prefer that way!
- In a heavy bottom pan, take either soft jaggery or very tiny pieces or hard jaggery along with ghee/coconut oil. Start melting them.
- Once melted, keep cooking jaggery on medium/high heat until it becomes very fluffy and changes color darker orange or red. At this point drop tiny amount of cooked jaggery in the bowl filled with cold water. If the jaggery sinks and forms a hard ball, try to bite on that ball and see if it sticks to your teeth.
- If it sticks, cook a little more and repeat the same process of checking the consistency of cooled down jaggery ball until you get to the point where the jaggery ball that was dropped in the cold water is not sticking to your teeth or until it is crunchy.
- At that point, add pinch of baking powder to jaggery, mix it very quickly and add prepared peanuts.
- Turn the heat off, mix the peanuts very well in the jaggery mix until all peanuts are coated well.
- Place that hot peanut jaggery mix very carefully on top of parchment paper.
- Place another parchment paper on top of it and start to flatten the chikki. Use either flat bottom bowl or rolling pin to flatten the chikki as much as possible (best if it is ¼ inch thick). Try to roll it out as fast as you can since it will start to harden.
- Once you are done rolling, wait till it is 70% cooled down (should take anywhere from 3-7 minutes). Remove the top parchment paper and cut the chikki into small squares leaving them in place still.
- Leave cut chikki as is until it is completely cooled down. Break the pieces and store them in air tight container.
