TIL GUR KI CHIKKI

 TIL GUR KI CHIKKI

The festival of Makar Sankaranti is eagerly awaited all over India. It usually falls on January 14 and is associated with the start of the harvest season and the days get longer and the nights shorter. The people of different regions call this festival by different names but the significance is the same. 

In the South, we make pongal, and in the West usually we make some goodies of sesame seeds (til) and groundnuts to celebrate the festival like ladoos, chikki etc. One among them is Til Gur Ki Chikki. 

I came across this well-explained recipe Til Chikki by Tarlaji Dalal and have adapted the same from her popular website. 

This recipe calls for the use of just three ingredients but it needs some skill to get it right the first time. It is advisable to use a special kind of jaggery ( Gur) to make these yummy sweets. It is important to use the right proportion of ingredients and get the timings right. 

Ingredients:-

• White Til ( Sesame seeds), 3/4 cup
• Gur, (Jaggery), cut into pieces, 1/2 cup 
• Ghee, 1 and 1/2 tsp

The best gur is from Kolhapur, in Maharashtra. 

Method:-

Important Preparatory Steps:

These steps are essential as this work cannot be done once the chiiki mixture is ready. They must be done before doing anything else! 

• Grease a large sized thali with a little ghee 
• Grease a thick rolling pin

Heat a thick-bottomed, deep and wide, non-stick pan add the sesame seeds and dry roast them on medium heat stirring continuously for 5-6 minutes

You will find the sesame seeds begin to crackle and turn brown after about 3 minutes

Continue to stir till the sesame seeds get fully browned. Take care not to roast them excessively.

Transfer the dry roasted sesame seeds to a plate and allow it to cool 

In the same pan heat 1 and 1/2 tsp of ghee and when it melts add the jaggery pieces and stir it till it melts completely in about 2-3 minutes.  Take care that it does not get burnt or black  

Switch off the gas and add the roasted sesame seeds to the melted jaggery and mix thoroughly 

Immediately transfer this sesame -jaggery mixture to the prepared greased thali and flatten it with a ladle

Using the greased rolling pin, flatten the mixture to the thickness you desire

Cut the chikki into the desired shapes before the mixture cools 

( Once it cools it will become very difficult to cut into any shape) 

Allow the chikki to cool for about 15 minutes 

Then using a knife remove the chikki by scraping it from under each piece 

Store in air tight containers