Sankranti is a time when the sky is filled with colorful kites, beautiful sun and the whooshing winds taking those kites in a hundred different directions while the flyers below are trying to maneuver and cut each other’s thread through the navigation of khichna and dhil dena. All of this happens while the kite runners keep their keen eyes open for that one limply kite, falling and tumbling down wires, electricity poles, terraces and trees.
While many others are involved in photography, holding the phirki, and observing the feat overhead with baited breath.
Uttar Ayana a festival celebrated in Gujrat similar to Makar Sankranti marks winter solstice and people all around India welcome and worship the sun with a warm embrace and also thank their gods for a wonderful harvest while waiting for spring with equal gusto and patience.
In my community this gratitude is shown by preparing a saath dhan ni khichadi where rice, wheat, moongdal and fresh lentils like jhinjhra, waal, turidana and peas are mixed together and kept aside for 5 days till the fresh seeds dry up slightly and cooked together with fresh vegetables like carrot , brinjal etc. Excited much, aren’t we?
But for now, I can’t take my mind off the lovely chikkis and laddoos, visiting friends and neighbours house serving chikkis, til guds, revdis, chiranji dana wishing each other- “til gud ghya ani god god bola” to promote a sense of friendship.
I especially love the Til gud laddoo, it is the epitome of caramelised bitter sweet flavour which shows the beauty of flavour pairing. Not only is it tasty but it is quite nutritious, a complete package of iron and protein. A lovely sweet that makes you strong and has an amazing shelf life that you can enjoy for days. And one more clarification I belong to team Jaggery as opposed to sugar any day every day.
And one more advantage is that these are one of the easiest sweets that I feel you can make. Only two ingredients are compulsory, everything else is optional and of your choice. Go as crazy as you want.
The assortments of chikkis made in each household are a sight to behold, the warm smell wafting in the air is enough to make your mouth drool and while it’s still hot you can’t let go and you need to taste it. And we are going to do the same.
Let’s make our favourite varieties. Shall we?
Sweet brittles (laddoos and chikkis)
Ingredients
Puffed rice balls (Murmura laddoo)
- 2.5 cup Puffed rice (murmura)
- 2/3 cup Jaggery (gur) grated or finely chopped
- 2 tsp Clarified butter (ghee) 1 tsp is used for greasing
- 1 tbsp Water
Sesame seed balls (tilgud laddoo)
- 2/3 cup Sesame seeds (til)
- 1/2 cup Jaggery (gur) grated or finely chopped
- 2 tsp Clarified butter (ghee) 1 tsp is used for greasing
- 1 tbsp Water
Peanut brittle (Singdana chikki)
- 2/3 cup Peanuts (Singdana)
- 1/2 cup Jaggery (gur) grated or finely chopped
- 2 tsp Clarified butter (Ghee) 1 tsp is used for greasing
- 1 tbsp Water
Roasted bengal gram brittle (Daria chikki)
- 2/3 cup Roasted bengal gram (daria)
- 1/2 cup Jaggery (gur) grated or finely chopped
- 2 tsp Clarified butter (ghee) 1 tsp is used for greasing
- 1 tbsp Water
Instructions
Jaggery balls (puffed rice and sesame )
- Dry roast you main ingredients in a pan on a low flame. Till the puffed rice becomes creamish in colour and lighter in weight. Similarly roast the sesame seeds till they turn creamish and begin to pop.
- Remove it in a clean dry plate.
- In a thick bottomed container melt a tsp of ghee and the chopped jaggery along with the water.
- Boil the jaggery , ensuring that you press down on any solid jaggery crumb and melt it evenly
- Allow the syrup to boil and wait for the jaggery to reach hard ball stage you can check it by pouring a drop in cold water.
- As soon as the jaggery reaches the right consistency turn of the flame and mix in the main ingredient in our case here-(either puffed rice or sesame seeds)
- Grease your palms with ghee and quickly start rolling balls. Wait for a few seconds if it is too hot.
- Repeat this procedure separately for both sesame seed balls and puffed rice balls.
- Let cool and store in airtight containers.
Jaggery brittles (peanut and roasted bengal gram)
- Dry roast you main ingredients in a pan on a low flame. Till the peanut skin becomes loose crinkly and you can see a beige tinge on the peanuts. Similarly roast the Roasted bengal gram more till it becomes slightly darker in shade and you smell the process of roasting.
- Remove it in a clean dry plate. Remove the skin of the roasted peanuts and break it in halves.
- In a thick bottomed container melt a tsp of ghee and the chopped jaggery along with the water.
- Boil the jaggery , ensuring that you press down on any solid jaggery crumb and melt it evenly
- Allow the syrup to boil and wait for the jaggery to reach hard ball stage you can check it by pouring a drop in cold water.
- As soon as the jaggery reaches the right consistency turn of the flame and mix in the main ingredient in our case here-(either peanut or roasted bengal gram)
- Grease your palms, a plate and a bowl with ghee and quickly spread the mixture on the greased plate trying to press it evenly into a rectangle or square of uniform thickness. Cut the brittle while its still warm
- Repeat this procedure separately for both peanut brittle and roasted bengal gram brittle.
- Let cool and store in airtight containers.
Notes
- Ensure that you properly weigh and roast your ingredients.
- Make Jaggery syrup individually for all types of chikkis.
- Always be careful while making any kind of syrup.
- The time and serving mentioned in the recipe is for any one kind of chikki and not the assortment.