No no…. I havent abandoned my blog and run away. I’ve just shifted to Kolkata, have time consumingly set up the house (partially to be honest), and since we shifted, the only thing that got done on schedule was our broadband connection. So as of the past few days, I have 24 hour internet!!
However, since the start of this blog, there has occurred a major change in circumstance – my cooking genius mother-in-law (MIL) is now nearly 2000 kilometers in the opposite side of the country. So recipes hence forth, will not be strictly Gujju, will be my own, and definitely more error than trial.
But before, I start off with attempts of my own, a classic from my MIL. She makes the best chikki/ peanut candy/ peanut brittle in the world. A super simple recipe, that requires just right timing and very few ingredients.
The World’s Best Chikki
What you need:
Some coarsely crushed raw peanuts (the more you crush, the thinner your chikki can be rolled out)
Some light coloured jaggery/ gud (its more difficult to gauge done-ness in dark coloured jaggery)
A spoon of ghee/ clarified butter
A buttered surface and a rolling pin
Keep a buttered surface ready on which you can roll the chikki out. Put the ghee in a fairly thick wok (we use an aluminum one, as you can see in the pic). Add a table tennis ball sized piece of jaggery and let it melt. Keep stirring till it darkens (see the pics; it took us about 1 1/2 mins on a medium flame) and some smoke begins to come. It will smell a deep caramel. Add 2 heaped tablespoons of crushed peanuts and mix well (add less peanuts first, the jaggery should coat the peanuts well).
Take the hot mixture out onto the buttered surface. Here I must mention that we use the a scrubbed part of our kitchen floor (yes, it is clean enough to eat off!). Quickly bind the mixture into a ball. If you cant handle the heat you might need mittens or a plastic sheet covering your hands. But I tried it with bare hands, it wasnt too bad. Once the mixture comes together in a ball, again quickly roll it out with a rolling pin. You might need to keep binding the edges that break away as you roll. Try and roll it about 5 mm thick. This must be done before the mixture cools, after which it will not spread. Your chikki is done, and it should be thin, crisp and not chewy.
The process in picture below (the pics are about 5 secs apart, till the rolling out)
And now the mixture is quickly rolled on a greased surface:
The 'Guj' Food Guide 
Thanks for the detailed process of chikki making. Will try as soon as I get the kitchen floor clean enough to roll it on 🙂