Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Lonavala Chikki - Maharashtra Special

Maharashtra is a state in Western region of India, its the second populous state after Uttar Pradesh. Maharashtra is bordered by Arabian sea in west, Gujarat and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in Northwest, Madhya Pradesh in North, Chatthisgarh in east, Karnataka in south, Andhra Pradesh in Southeast and Goa in southwest. Mumbai is the capital city of this state and  the cuisine of this state differs according to its region.The cuisine and other cultural rituals of this state is divided into two main regions. The Konkan and Varad are the two regions, their cuisine have distinct flavor and texture and they can be immediately identified by any Marathi person. Konkani food have coastal flavor as Konkani people live near the seashore and the ingredients included in their cuisine are fish,coconut,cashewnuts, vegetable, peanuts as they are found in these areas. The Varadi dishes are spicier and they are very popular all over the country. The main diet of a Marathi included lentils, rice,wheat,vegetable and fruit. Rice or bhaat is a common food and its served with bhaji,along with dal, then bhakri, the roti made with wheat,bajra or jowar together or individually.Bhaji is a vegetarian dish prepared prominently with vegetables,spices and rassa is made of potato and cauliflower. Goda masala and kalaa masala are the spicy powders that add distinct flavor to Marathi cuisine.

Maharashtrian special dishes goes mostly for chivda or Bombay mixture, Kande Poha, Usal Pav, Vada Pav. This cuisine also have many popular sweet delicacies and many of them are famous all over India.The list goes for Puran poli, Karanji, Modak,Kheer, Basundi,Jalebi, Shrikhand,Shankarpali. Instead of chosing from this list of dishes, i opted for the famous Lonavala Chikki. Lonavala is named from the word 'Lenya' which means caves in Marathi since its have many rock cut caves. Its Shri Maganlal Agarwal brought chikki to Lonavala more than 125years ago. Actually Shri Maganlal began selling Gurdana, a mixture of jaggery and groundnuts in a huge sack to the laborers, since gurdana is rich in protein and iron, the laborers used to consume it for the instant energey, later this simple gurdana turned to groundnut chikki. Chikki is made from simple ingredients like jaggery,sugar, nuts.You can prepare this chikkis with different nuts, sesame seeds or with a nut. However i used cashewnuts and almonds in this chikki and used the usual white sugar which is caramalised later for giving this beautiful brownish colour to this super addictive chikki.


Recipe Source: Lata Akka
1+1/2cups Mixed nuts (broken coarsely)
1cup Sugar
1pinch Baking soda
2tbsp Ghee

Drop and spread a tablespoon of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan, sprinkle the sugar over it (this helps for caramalising evenly).

Meanwhile prepare a wooden board and rolling pin, grease them generously with the remaining ghee.

Place the pan in slow flame, allow the sugar to melt and caramelise.

Add the baking soda, once the sugar reach the brown colour, remove immediately from the fire.

Drop the broken nuts, give a stir.

Transfer immediately to the greased board, press the mixture with rolling pin.

Allow to cool, while its still warm cut as squares.

Once cooled completely, break the chikkis as squares.

Store them in air tightened box.

Notes:
Take care while caramelising, dont let the caramel to turn dark brown, its will tastes bitter.

Be alert once the sugar starts caramelise, coz the caramelisation will be very quick.

Once you add the nuts, stir briskly and drop the mixture immediately to the greased board, roll it immediately.

This chikki mixture will be extremely sticky but once cooled they will be prefect in texture.


36 comments:

Priya said... Reply To This Comment

oh while hot itself we have to cut them .super chikkis

Latha said... Reply To This Comment

Looks so crunchy and yummy. Nicely done.

Unknown said... Reply To This Comment

Hi Priya,
These look so yum. I have never tried these with baking soda. Thanks for sharing this tip

Srivalli said... Reply To This Comment

Wow the chikkis look so sinful Priya..I am sure everything disappeared quickly!..

Vidya Chandrahas said... Reply To This Comment

So perfectly made chikki with mixed nuts, wonderful and inviting, my favourite.

Akila said... Reply To This Comment

Yummy snack to munch on

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

This is one of my favourit picks, whenever we happened to stop by at Kopoli junctions. Nice recipe and fab pics. Thank you

Lifewithspices said... Reply To This Comment

i love lonavala chikkis espcl wit sesame.. yummy preperation ka..

Sangeetha Nambi said... Reply To This Comment

It's sooooo tempting like our very own "Kadala Mittai"

Unknown said... Reply To This Comment

Lonavala chikki in Paris :-). looks lovely. My favorite too.

Unknown said... Reply To This Comment

I have heard so much about this chikki... bookmarking it to try!! so tempting... love your tips a lot.. very helpful!!!

Sona - quick picks/pick quicks said... Reply To This Comment

amazed at the n number fo recipes you come up with , Priya!!!!you simply rockk !!!

vaishali sabnani said... Reply To This Comment

pinch of soda is new..and interesting..will try it next time..chikki looks delcious!

Nammi said... Reply To This Comment

yumm, perfect little snack. Why do you add baking soda?

Eat n Eat little More said... Reply To This Comment

so yummy n colorful dear! :) wow, they look just perfect

Gloria Fernandes said... Reply To This Comment

We love lonavala Chikki..and this looks so yumm.just like store brought...

Priya Suresh said... Reply To This Comment

@Nammi Actually baking soda gives a airy caramel, thats y. Hope i cleared ur doubt.

Sandhya Ramakrishnan said... Reply To This Comment

This is just so delicious! I love chikkis and your look so perfect. I am bookmarking this to try out for the bookmarked theme next month :)

Sundari Nathan said... Reply To This Comment

Looks great!! More perfect than the store bought ones :)

great-secret-of-life said... Reply To This Comment

looks perfect.. I love to hv this now... Perfect nutty snack

Suma Gandlur said... Reply To This Comment

Addictive peanut brittle.

The Pumpkin Farm said... Reply To This Comment

you are courageous, no one tries this at home, ofcourse one it is available easily but second it is indeed a tough job, yours look so real and shop like, lovely

Unknown said... Reply To This Comment

looks great and very nicely done. Love the rich colour of chikki

Unknown said... Reply To This Comment

Perfect chikkis Smitha... Hats off to you.. I am reminded of the lonavla ones.. :)

AparnaRajeshkumar said... Reply To This Comment

my all time favorite snack... lovely click u took

Varada's Kitchen said... Reply To This Comment

The color and texture is perfect. Looks really crunchy and yummy!

jayanthi said... Reply To This Comment

chikkis look yummy. i love the regular peanut chikkis, my husband likes the nut chikkis.. have to try this sometime

Nalini's Kitchen said... Reply To This Comment

Wow!!!!perfectly made lonavala chikki,makes me drool...you got a nice caramelized chikki..well done.

Gayathri Kumar said... Reply To This Comment

Looks so delightful Priya. Love to much on some chikkies...

Harini R said... Reply To This Comment

OMG, a perfect brittle to munch! I would love to make it at the risk of screwing up the sugar syrup :)

Chef Mireille said... Reply To This Comment

what a perfectly nutty snack

Pavani said... Reply To This Comment

Crunchy & Addictive chikki.

MySpicyKitchen said... Reply To This Comment

cHikki is perfectly made. ican munch on it all day

Padmajha said... Reply To This Comment

Looks perfect Priya! Adding soda to the chikki is new to me!

Archana said... Reply To This Comment

Wow Priya these are so yum. Look store brought. Useing soda is new to me.

Unknown said... Reply To This Comment

omg aks you are brilliant those chikkis look so professional, i wud love to give it a try :) a pinch of soda is something new will try it soon !!