Peanut Chikki or Peanut Brittle is one of the most popular Indian brittle recipes. This chikki is a mash-up of peanuts and jaggery, prepared in a sweet candy like crispy bars.Peanut Chikki or Groundnut Chikki is one of the most exciting forms of savoring winter jewels ‘jaggery and peanuts’ together. Peanut (moongfali/groundnut) Chikki aka Peanut Brittle is a healthy, delightful, traditional candy made from peanuts and jaggery. This peanut chikki has so many health benefits. In other words, Peanut Chikki is the Indian version of Golden Peanut Brittle.
Ingredients1.5 cups peanuts (moongfali)
1.5 cups jaggery (gur/gud)), broken into pieces
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon ghee or butter
Method
Roasting Peanut* Dry roast peanuts on medium to low heat, keep stirring often.
* When the peanuts are half roasted, the skin starts to come off. Keep roasting them until you get a nice roasting nutty aroma, and they become light golden in color. (To check doneness, take a peanut between your thumb and the index finger and rub it if the peanut has a slight golden color then they are done.
* Remove from pan, and let them cool completely.
* Remove the skin by rubbing them between your palms. The skin would come off easily. Remove all the skin from the peanuts. Split the roasted peanuts as much as possible. Keep them aside.
For Jaggery Syrup* In a heavy pan or saucepan, over low heat, add broken jaggery with 3 tablespoons of water.
* Jaggery would begin to dissolve, keep stirring until jaggery is fully dissolved.
* When the jaggery is completely melted, boil it for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
* Add 1 tablespoon ghee and mix well.
* Keep boiling for 2 more minutes. Stir constantly until the jaggery syrup reaches a hard ball consistency.
* To check jaggery syrup hardness, pour a few drops of jaggery syrup into the cold water. Jaggery syrup will harden immediately when dropped to cold water and forms a brittle.
* Remove it and snap it. It should be easy to brittle like candy. This is the perfect hardball stage we are looking for.
* If it is stringy, cook syrup further until you get hard ball consistency. (You can also use a candy thermometer. If you are using a candy thermometer, then cook the syrup until it reaches 270 degrees.)
For Peanut Chikki* Grease your worktop, knife, and a wooden rolling pin. Instead of a rolling pin, you can also use the greased base of a flat steel cup.
* When jaggery syrup is ready, add the roasted peanut to the jaggery syrup, and mix it well to combine.
* Cook for 1 minute and turn off the heat.
* Immediately pour this jaggery mixture onto the greased surface.
* Quickly shape it to a square using a greased knife or a wooden spatula.
* Roll with the greased rolling pin to a uniform thickness. You can also use a greased cup to even up the top.
* Cut chikki into pieces using a greased knife while it’s still warm.
* Cool it completely before taking out the pieces. Enjoy.