Is it even winter in India if you do not rush to your terrace with a mat or chatai every afternoon? How your speed accelerates when the winter sun is nice and bright, and how you are simultaneously hoping for someone to follow you with a bag of chikki and peanuts. For the unversed, Chikki is a brittle candy made by melting jaggery, and sprinkling it over with some peanuts, and allowing it to cool down and set. The delicate candy can break even with light pressure, and the crackling sound it makes upon breaking, is a delight in itself. A video posted by Instagram channel @eatthisagra is going viral for being the ‘biggest chikki’ of not just India, but the world. Throughout the video, there is no reference to the dimensions of chikki or valid comparisons to support the tall claim, but nonetheless, the preparation of this chikki does make for a stunning vision.
This mammoth-sized chikki shop can be found at Sai ka Takiya, Agra, Uttar Pradesh. In the video, we see a person cook a kadhai full of jaggery until it becomes a gooey, brown liquid. About two plates of peeled peanuts are added to the jaggery and everything is mixed vigorously in the kadhai with the help of a spatula. The jaggery-peanut mixture is then spread on a large plate, roughly two feet in diameter. The plate is sprinkled over with besan first, before the jaggery is poured, so that it takes a proper shape. The jaggery mixture is flattened using a rolling pin, until it is roughly an inch thick. It is then cut in several pieces from the centre and allowed to cool. Once cooled, the large chikki is transferred on to another plate.
The video has already clocked in more than 4.2 million views on Instagram, within just three days of going live. People in the comments section are either mesmerised by the size of the chikki or impressed by the hygienic process in which the entire preparation is carried out.
Chikki is one of the most popular Indian candies. Also known as Gajak, Chikki is a beloved winter staple because of its contents. Jaggery is known to be energizing and warm, it is also replete with iron and a multitude of vitamins that help you fight the chilly winter. The peanuts offer a nice texture to the candy while making it robust with energy-boosting properties. It is fairly easy to make chikki at home too, provided you have the right amount of patience. There are a few tips you must keep in mind as well, for instance, when you melt the jaggery, make sure you keep stirring it so that it does not become a sticky lump. Choose a vessel with a wide mouth as you need a fair amount of air when you stir and mix the jaggery.
Here’s a fabulous chikki recipe you can try at home, let us know how you liked it.
