Lets welcome and celebrate Sankranti, also known as Uttarayan, Pongal, and Lohri to name a few. It marks the beginning of the new year for some folks in India. In the Julian Calendar, January 14th was also considered as new year, as the sun starts its northward journey from the southern most tip. The day of this festival is always fixed as January 14th. In North India, this is also the beginning of Harvest Festival, bringing wealth and good tidings to the community. Traditionally we believe that all auspicious actions be taken after January 14th, as that brings you good luck in your endeavors. I can vouch for this, as I have received good tidings through the day today, so I felt all the more compulsion to celebrate in its true spirit with the making of Sesame Candy in Jaggery.
My hometown Rajkot, India, is famous for its jaggery based chikki(candy). There are other versions of this candy, as this is a festival that is widely celebrated all over India. At many places, jaggery is substituted by sugar. Variation of these candies consists of the jaggery mixed with peanuts and almonds or mixed nuts. But, my favorite combination is that of sesame seeds in jaggery as jaggery has more nutritional value than sugar.
In Gujarat, this celebration takes a whole new level, with kite flying festival and neighbors competing against each other to fly their kite to the highest point in the sky. Ahmedabad, India, hosts the International Kite festival, attended by many from world over, where kites of different shapes and sizes are seen flying in the sky. This day is a holiday at most places, specially in the state of Gujarat. I miss those days of being able to go up the terrace and fly kites, eat chikki, and compete with my friends and neighbors in kite flying. But the least I could do was to make an effort to make the sesame candy and celebrate the good tidings coming my way. Sesame seeds chikki candy has a smooth texture to look at, crunchy while biting, and soft on chewing. The jaggery gives a flavor of sweet and salty taste besides adding the color of warmth on a candy, to be enjoyed in the cold season. The color of the candy differs on the color of jaggery used. I had the dark brown jaggery, hence the shade is a little darker than normally seen, but the texture and softness was just right and if you get hooked on it like I do, its difficult to stop, so you are safely warned here!!
Recipe : 15 pieces of 2*2 inches
Cooking time: 15 min
Preparation time: 5 min
Ingredients by Volume
- 3/4 cup filled with jaggery pieces
- 3/4 cup white sesame seeds
- 2 1/2 tsp unmelted ghee(clarified butter)
Method
- In a broad pan, heat the sesame seeds on medium flame stirring constantly, until mildly brown in about 3/4 minutes.
- Remove from flame, and remove the sesame seeds into a plate or another vessel, so that it does not brown further.
- Grease with ghee, a chopping board, or aluminum foil of about 18*18 inches dimension..
- In the same pan, heat the ghee. When melted, add the jaggery and stir on medium flame, until completely melted, as in the case of melted chocolate!
- As soon as it melts thoroughly, which should not take more than 4-5 min, reduce the flame, add the roasted sesame seeds to it, and mix thoroughly.
- Soon you will be able to form a lump,while stirring.
- Transfer this lump very quickly on to the chopping board or aluminium foil and spread it wide.
- Using a roller pin, spread it evenly into a rectangular shape if possible.
- Cool for 2 minutes.
- Using a knife, make square pieces of 2*2 inches.
- Store immediately in an airtight container.
Sesame candy in another color and form, also known as Til Ladoo, round in shape and white/wheatish in color. Til, is the more commonly used name for Sesame seeds and Ladoo means a round ball. Here the color of jaggery used is more golden. To make this shape, after the lump is formed, remove from flame and very quickly make small rounds. Challenge over here, is to be able to make round balls in the palm of your hand, while it is hot. I would prefer the flat rectangle pieces to the round balls, due to the ease in making.
Tips
If the Jaggery is very firm,slice it into small pieces, or microwave it in a bowl for 45 seconds.
Sesame seeds should not be overcooked, otherwise they will have a slight bitterness to them.
While making pieces with knife, applying even pressure by the palm of your hands on top of the knife, will work better to have clean cuts.
Instinct Factor
Trusting your instinct over here is very crucial, as jaggery if overcooked, will become too brown and burnt. Undercooking is better than overcooking over here. You cannot go wrong with the taste, so even if the shape is not perfect, the taste will be!
Feel Factor
Never knew candies can have iron and calcium and also taste so yum! A crunchy warm looking candy that has a sweet and salty flavor at the same time, and once you start nibbling, you may just finish the whole box!
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