Peanut Chikki aka Peanut Brittle

Peanut ChikkiThe son and I have finally prevailed upon my mother to make Peanut Chikki – a snack we both adore and discovered at approximately the same period in our lives – the tender age of one and a half. In fact, during our recent trip to India the barber who came home to give the son his obligatory “India” haircut told me that he used to work for my dad in his factory and remembers me as a two-year old with a peanut fixation: I roamed the factory all day long munching steadily on peanut chikki.

My mum has always refused to make Chikki in London citing spurious reasons such as a) The jaggery (or unrefined sugar blocks) available here is not as good as India b) the peanuts are not great c) It’s dark and gloomy (yes, talk about random excuses) and so on. But the fact is that her chikki is the best we’ve ever eaten and so when I produced a block jaggery and threatened her with it she finally acquiesced. Here is the process:

Peanut Chikki aka Peanut Brittle

Serves 5
Prep time 5 minutes
Cook time 15 minutes
Total time 20 minutes
A delicious and sticky snack of peanuts and jaggery

Ingredients

  • 150g jaggery (available in most Indian shops)
  • 200g roasted peanuts
  • Water (measure the jaggery in a bowl and add water so that is aprroximately 3/4th of the amount)

Note

Here's a good way to tell if the jaggery is caramelized enough: Take some water in bowl and put a drop of jaggery in it. If it hardens into a ball and rises to the surface, it means that it is just right on the caramel scale!.

Directions

Step 1
Add the water to the jaggery and mix. Now put this mixture on a low flame and caramelize until it is brown and slightly thick.
Step 2
Whilst this is happening, spread a little bit of oil/ghee on a plate ensuring that you cover the plate completely.
Step 3
When the jaggery is caramelized, pour it on the plate spreading evenly.
Step 4
Now put in the peanuts, again distributing them evenly and ensuring that they are covered with the jaggery.
Step 5
When the mixture has been evenly spread and is still soft, cut out small squares with a knife, like so.
Step 6
Leave to cool and harden.
Step 7
Break into small pieces and store in an air tight container.