Peanut Chikki (పప్పుచెక్క)

Ingredients

Directions

Dry roast raw peanuts in medium flame until medium brown ^(*3)
Remove the roasted peanuts from pan, and remove the skin, by gently rubbing them ^(*4)
Dry roast the sesame seeds until they turn light brown
Keep a steel plate greased with ghee
Also keep a rolling pin (చపాతీ కర్ర) greased with ghee for rolling
Add grated jaggery to a bowl
Add water (just a table spoon) and occassionally stir as jaggery melts in water
When jaggery is all melted, filter it to a heavy bottom pan^(*5)
Add ghee and boil the jaggery syrup in heavy bottom pan until it reached brittle consistency ^(*6)
Now, add the roasted peanuts and sesame seeds into the boiling jaggery syrup
Mix the peanuts and seeds quickly and ensure they are coated well with the jaggery syrup ^(*7)
Quickly remove from the plan and pour on to the previously greased steel plate
With rolling pin, roll the mixture evenly, and quickly ^(*8)
After a few minutes, when the chikki is midly warm, cut it into nice shapes ^(*9)

Tips

^(*1) Dry roast the peanuts, instead of air fry, for authentic taste
^(*2) If you are adding sesame seeds, increase the quantity to 1 cup of jaggery
^(*3) Peanuts tend to absorb heat from the pan even after stopping the flame, so remove them from the pan immediately
^(*4) You may mildly crush the peanuts to break them into smaller pieces
^(*5) Jaggery tends to have impurities, so they need to be filtered out. You may add a little more water if the melted jaggery is too thich to flow through a filter
^(*6) Test the consistency by dropping a few drops into cold water. The drops should be able to be consolidated into a single candy ball
^(*7) This step shouldn’t last more than a minute (or even less)
^(*8) Grease the rolling pin liberally
^(*9) Don’t wait until the mixture colls down. Cut it into pieces while it is still warm