This is all
about Chikki and nothing Cheeky about it. I am back traversing those
childhood days as I prepare this in my kitchen.
Chikki was
one of our favourites, I mean for us -- brothers and sisters. Chikki was
sometimes cooked at home, that too when we requested our Thakur (cook) to make
some. I remember how on holidays we would run from our house to the little
shop, closeby, with coins in our fists tightly gripped so that it did not fall
out. The little shop was more than 500 yards away from home but in running from
here, our home to there, the shop, we would be panting as we reached our
destination. It was also sort of running a race in the interest of buying. None
of us ever felt tired from the run but got pleasure after buying the stuff and
then biting away enjoying the taste of gur (jaggery) and cheena badam (peanuts) balls.
The man who
ran the little shop was from Andhra. He was clad in a dhoti and a top like a Phatua (a simple top
with short sleeves falling just below the waist line, a very traditional vest,
with side pockets). He would be smoking Peenka (special leaves
rolled like a cheroot) and talking to us. When we asked for chikki, he would,
remove the peenka from his mouth, dip his hands into the water that was kept in
a small earthen vessel, wipe it in his gamcha (traditional towel), open the lid of the jar
and take out the chikki balls. We would hand over the coins and each one would
buy two chikki balls. Once the buying was over, with the chikki’s tucked safely
in the fist, we would run back home. It would take hardly 3-4 minutes to do the
running, one way. Later on this shopkeeper started selling diamond shaped
chikkis. Little did I know then how he made those attractive shapes that looked
great.
Peanuts,
and a Bangali will tell you, “Oh! You are talking about Cheena badam”, that’s
the first expression from a Bengali. It is so nice that Bengalis love their
language, their tradition, their style, their food and of course you can hear
their loud voices and then you can judge, “Hah! This is a Bengali person or a
family.” Being a Bengali I love everything that I have mentioned except
speaking loudly in public.
Moving on,
my childhood memories don’t stop here. As kids I remember breaking with the
teeth the hard outer cover of the peanut, and then rub the nuts in-between the
palms to remove the skin and then bite them. I remember masi (aunty) from
whom we bought cheena badam. She used to sit a big earthen vessel on her firewood
burnt chullah/oven. She put some sand in the vessel and let it absorb the heat
for some time. Once the sand was hot she would put huge quantity of cheena
badam/ groundnut/peanut. The nuts were with the outer hard cover. It was
roasted for some time and she knew when it was done. She used some broomsticks (sticks
from the coconut leaves tied together in the middle) and stir the contents
continuously. Once it was roasted she pulled out the nuts with the help of the
sticks and put them in the huge sieve she had, very traditional one…there was
one a bit different in our house to sieve and clean the wheat…, shake the
contents so that the sand dropped out of the holes and only the nuts remained.
She would weigh and sell her peanuts.
Now-a-days
the shells are cracked and only the nuts are available in packets. And it is
easy to roast them. You can fry the peanuts in oil. But it is always good to
dry roast them. Roast in a kadhai or use the microwave oven to do the work in
minutes.
Roasting in
microwave oven is easy. Place some in a container. Set the timing for 2
minutes. Then give the nuts a stir, again 2 minutes, another sir and then a
minute will do. Work is over in five minutes. But you have to be watchful so that
it is not over-roasted. It may take a minute less if the quantity is small.
Coming to
my Chikki, all that is needed is Gur /Jaggery and roasted peanuts with their
skins removed.
Gur/Jaggery:
250 gms
Peanuts:
200gms
Put the gur
in a kadhai, better to use aluminium or iron kadhai. Place the gur and add about
2 tbsp of water.
Once the
gur starts melting, stir it with the ladle to mix properly.
Cook the
gur to two-thread consistency.
Now throw
in the peanuts and mix well for a minute and then switch off the stove.
Pour it out
on a plate covered with aluminium foil. It is easy to remove the chikki blocks
from the aluminium foil as it does not stick to it.
Cut into
diamond shapes when the chikki is still hot. It cools down very quickly and
hardens so soon that it is impossible to cut them instead have to break the big
block into tiny pieces for savouring.
Taste, eat,
enjoy the crunchy bite, share, and in all this your effort is rewarding.
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