Homemade chikki recipe that is exactly like your mom/grandma made! This peanut chikki (til chikki) is perfectly crunchy, nutty with the right amount of sweetness. Here you’ll learn all the tips to make it perfect every single time.
1cupJaggery (Gur)(loosely packed), Kolhapuri jaggery that comes in a cone block {desi jaggery or organic jaggery powder don’t work}
Instructions
Roasting Peanuts:
Dry roast the peanuts on medium-low heat with stirring constantly. How do I know peanuts are roasted? 1. Skin starts to come off easily. Take one peanut, cool slightly and press between thumb and finger, skin should come off without any effort. 2. You’ll notice the slight brown color or spots on the skin as well as on the peanuts. 3. You’ll notice the aroma of roasted peanuts.
Remove it to a plate and let it cool down slightly (until warm).
Then add into a ziplock bag. Stat smashing with a rolling pin. Smash lightly that peanuts break into halves and skin will come off. Don’t overdo it that you’ll end up with crushed peanuts and not halves. Some may get crushed slightly and that is fine.
Now remove it to a strainer and shake. Most of the skin will get removed and the remaining may float on top, pick up those and discard them.
Some peanut skin may stay intact, you can use your finger and thumb to remove and split it in half.
Take skinless, halved (slightly crushed) peanuts in a bowl and keep them aside.
Prep:
Keep a bowl of ice water (or cold water) ready next to the stove. We’ll use that to check the jaggery syrup’s consistency. We’re looking for hard ball stage.
Keep two pieces of parchment paper and a rolling pin ready on the counter. I like to keep a silicone mat underneath the parchment paper so it doesn’t slide while rolling.
Keep a knife (or pizza cutter) handy to mark the cuts while it is still warm.
Making Peanut Chikki Recipe:
Take jaggery in a pan and turn the heat on medium-low.
Keep stirring constantly and cook the syrup until it reaches the hard ball syrup stage. In beginning, jaggery will get melted and turn into a light, runny and bubbly syrup.
Continue cooking (with stirring continuously to avoid burning) until jaggery gets darker in color and syrup will thicken.
As soon as you notice the it is starting to thicken, you start checking the consistency by adding a few drops of syrup into the bowl of cold water. It should be firm, brittle and snap easily. If it is stretchy and stringy then this is not the right stage. You’ll need to cook it more.
While checking the consistency, turn the gas heat to the lowest possible to avoid burning or overcooking the syrup.
NOTE: We are looking for hard ball stage (250-266 F) of syrup consistency. If you have a candy thermometer then it should reach between 260-265 F. If you don’t have a candy thermometer then use the old-fashioned method by using a bowl of cold water.
When the it reaches this hard ball stage, add the peanuts immediately. Turn off the stove.
Work quickly, mix them evenly.
Immediately transfer this mixture to the parchment paper.
Place another parchment paper on top. Spread it slightly using your palm and while it is still hot, start rolling. Roll it evenly and keep the thickness to about ¼ inch.
While it is still warm, make the cut-marks using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.
Let it cool down completely. Once cools down, it will break easily at the cut-marks.
Video
Notes
Cooking jaggery syrup at the right stage is an essential step to making the perfect peanut chikki.
To avoid burning and overcooking the syrup, keep the gas heat to low once the syrup starts to thicken.
Keep stirring the syrup constantly, even if you’re checking by adding drops in the bowl. Do that quickly and get back to the stirring.
You’ll have to keep checking the syrup every few seconds. Because it can get overcooked within seconds.
Once the syrup reaches the right stage, work quickly and turn off the stove as soon as you add peanuts to avoid overcooking.
Troubleshoot:
Undercooked jaggery syrup: you’ll get a chewy texture, chikki sticks to the teeth while eating.
Overcooked jaggery syrup: you’ll get super hard, rock-like chikki.
You can double the recipe. If you want to make more than double then you have to cook them in batches. Because stirring and cooking that much jaggery is tough and chances that you may mess up or burn the syrup as it’ll be labor-intensive to stir that much syrup.Roasting the peanuts and removing the husk are the required steps. So do not skip them. To save some time, you can use skinless peanuts available in the market.Variations: Other popular variations are til chikki (sesame seeds), mixed nuts chikki (mixture of almonds, cashews, pista), crushed peanut chikki, rajgira chikki (amaranth seeds). You can try mixing some sunflower seeds, melon seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, etc into peanut chikki or til chikki.