Peanut Chikki/ Peanut Brittle/ Kadala Muttai

Chikki/ Peanut Brittle is a traditional Indian candy made with jaggery and peanuts. This one is loved by everyone in my family. My mom used to make this when we were kids but I never tried as I was not sure of the syrup consistency.

We buy this when we go shopping at Indian store, but nowadays we are not getting good quality ones and so I gathered courage and made this by asking my mom and watching some channels regarding the syrup consistency. It came out perfect. You can cut them into pieces by spreading them on a greased surface. This is a very healthy snack, rich in protein and iron.

Jaggery is an important ingredient for perfect chikkis. Also make sure the syrup reaches the right consistency by dropping a little bit in water and checking whether it turned into candy consistency. Act fast while rolling. Hope my friends will try this and please let me know how it turned.

Ingredients:

1. Peanuts- 2.5cups
2. Jaggery- 1cup
3. Water-1/4 Cups

Method:

1. Roast the Peanuts till nice aroma comes and till it starts to change golden in color. Keep this aside and ones it is cooled remove the skin by crushing gently. Separate the skin and keep the peanuts aside till the jaggery syrup is ready.
2. Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add the jaggery along with water. Let it dissolve on low heat.
3. Begin to boil and keep stirring until it thickens well. Check the consistency by dropping few drops into water. When it reaches the right consistency the jaggery syrup will harden immediately and it forms brittle.
4. If you are unable to get the syrup brittle then cook for few more minutes.
5. Turn off the stove and add the roasted peanuts, be quick and stir the peanuts well till everything gets well incorporated.
6. Grease your hands with ghee and roll them into balls. Ones it gets harder place it in an airtight container. and enjoy.

Healthy Overnight Oats for Breakfast

Recently I started liking these overnight oats for breakfast. I love to experiment by adding different toppings like chopped berries, crushed nuts, nut butter, coconut flakes, a variety of fruits and so on. These will make you full till lunch and is easy to customize the flavors.

I feel these easy make-ahead breakfasts are essential for busy mornings. Overnight oats are rolled oats/ old fashioned oats, which are soaked in a liquid overnight. By the next morning, the liquid is well absorbed by the oats and can be had along with a choice of toppings. Sometimes I will just have along with chopped bananas. A perfect no-cook breakfast which is loaded with nutrients, fiber, vitamins, proteins, and will be liked by kids.

You can add any sweetener like the honey, brown sugar, dates syrup, chocolate chips for the kids. A healthy option to take to school/ office. By mixing all the ingredients the night before, a creamy, hearty, healthy, satisfying and absolutely delicious dish will be ready the next day morning.
I like the soaked raw oats rather than the gummy texture of the cooked oats. If you give these a try, please let me know.
Ingredients:

1. Oats- 1 Cups
2. Almond Milk- 1/2 Cup
3. Greek Yogurt/ Plain Yogurt- 2 tbsp
4. Cinnamon Powder- 1/4 Tsp
5. Honey- 1/2 tbsp
6. Chia Seeds- 1 tsp
7. Peanut Butter- 1 tbsp

Method:

1. In a bowl/ glass jar, add the oats, along with almond milk, yogurt, Chia seeds, cinnamon powder, honey, and peanut butter. Mix well till everything gets incorporated well. Refrigerate overnight.
2. In the morning, add your choice of chopped nuts, berries, and granola. Enjoy a healthy and delicious breakfast.

Sabudana Vada/ Crispy Sago (Tapioca Pearls) Fritters

Sabudana Vada / Tapioca Pearl Fritters are a most popular Indian snack which is liked by all. This is a traditional dish of Maharashtra, which is made during the time of fasting/ vrat for festivals, as this dish doesn't contain any onions or garlic. An easy and a simple snack which can be prepared in a less time if everything is well planned ahead.

These super delicious snacks are crispy from outside and soft from inside. Sago / Tapioca pearl is pure carbohydrate, the addition of peanuts to sago adds to the protein content, making it a balanced meal.
The popular things which can be made using sago are sabudana kichdi and sabudana kheer.  A little preparation ahead like soaking the sago overnight, boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes, roasting and coarsely grinding the peanuts make the work easy. This vada/ fritter is often enjoyed with spicy green chutney and a hot tea. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

1. Tapioca Pearls/ Sabudana- 1 Cup
2. Boiled Potatoes- 2 nos
3. Roasted & Coarsely grind Peanuts- 1/2 Cup
4. Green Chillies- 2 nos
5. Red Chili Powder- 1 Tsp
6. Coriander Powder- 1 Tsp
7. Cumin Powder- 1/2 tsp
8. Lemon juice- 1 tbsp
9. Salt- as required
10. Oil- for shallow frying

Method:

1. Soak the tapioca pearls overnight. They turn soft after soaking overnight, drain and keep this aside.
2. In a mixing bowl add the mashed potatoes, powdered peanuts along with the drained tapioca pearls. Mix well.
3. Add the chopped green chilies, cumin powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, lemon juice and required amount of salt. Mix all the ingredients well.
4. Divide them into small portions and flatten them in the shape of round patties.
5. Fry these patties in medium hot oil. When they turn golden on one side flip and cook till done. drain on kitchen towels and enjoy a nice evening snack with friends and family.  

Andhra Style Stuffed Ivy Gourd Fry/ Gutti Dondakaya Vepudu

Stuffed Ivy gourd is one of my favorite dishes which my mom makes often. I love anything made out of ivy gourd. When in school, if any of my friends brought the stuffed ivy gourd, I used to trade them with my food and I enjoyed eating this stuffed version. I love to eat Andhra food a lot. My mom makes the best version. During school days, for lunch box along with rice, she used to send me varieties of dishes. She is an expert in Kerala cuisine but most of the traditional Andhra dishes, she used to learn and prepare for us. Feeling very nostalgic.

This is an easy dish which can be prepared within no time through the preparation part of slicing the ivy gourd is little time consuming, but worth the effort. Just roast and grind all the spices and stuff the paste in ivy gourd and fry them in little oil till soft and tender. Voila... a mouthwatering dish is ready to go with hot steaming rice.

This stir-fry has a nice crunchy outside and nutty flavor inside. Hope you all might like it. Try it out and let me know...
Ingredients:
Ivy Gourd- 10- 15nos
Red Chilis- 3 nos
Sesame Seeds- 2 tbsp
Peanuts- 1/4 Cup
Urad Dal- 1 tbsp
Coriander Seeds- 1 tbsp
Oil- 2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds-1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds-1 tsp
Method:
Heat 1 tbsp of oil, roast the red chilis, urad dal, peanuts, coriander seeds and urad dal. When roasted well switch off the flame and let it cool. Grind to a fine paste along with required amount of salt and water.
Chop the ends of the ivy gourd and slit lengthwise. Stuff the above made paste in the ivy guard and keep this aside.
Heat the remaining oil in a wok, splutter the mustard and cumin seeds.
Add the stuffed ivy gourd, stir for 5 minutes on a medium flame. Close with a lid and let this cook for about 10- 15 minutes on a slow flame, stirring in between.
Once when they turn soft and cooked, switch off the flame and serve along with hot steamed rice.

Baked Masala Peanuts

Masala peanuts is a perfect tea time snack which will be enjoyed by all in the family. Baked masala peanuts are one of our favorite snacks and so I will make sure to refill this by preparing a big batch before it gets finished. This is a guilt-free version of the fried masala peanuts and can be enjoyed an extra handful.

The masala peanuts are coated with a thick batter of gram flour and seasoned with spices, which is then baked to perfection and enjoyed by all. Make sure to stir in between or else they will burn and will not taste good. The baked ones are crispy, crunchy and tasty just like the fried ones. By adding garlic, the flavor is well incorporated. This is so easy to make that you just have to throw all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and bake in the oven till done. This is a perfect guilt-free snack which can be enjoyed any time of the day. Hope you all may like this.

Ingredients:

1. Peanuts- 2 Cups
2. Besan/ Chickpea Flour- ½  Cup
3. Rice Flour- 3 tbsp
4. Red Chilli Powder- 2 Tsp
5. Salt- as required
6. Ajwain- 1 tbsp
7. Garlic- 3 cloves

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking tray using parchment paper.
2. Wash and drain the peanuts. Keep this aside. Crush the garlic just once.
3. Add all the other ingredients in the drained peanuts and mix well till everything gets well incorporated.
4. Spread this evenly onto the lined baking tray, make sure that there are no lumps and breaking the lumps with fingers.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes, stirring in between. Switch off the oven and allow it to cool by keeping it outside the oven.
6. The peanuts will turn even more crispy and crunchy. Store it in an airtight jar and enjoy.

Peanut Brittle/ Chikki/ Kadala Muttai

Whenever I go to buy groceries, I would always sneek into the eatery section (ie. if my husband is not watching :-) and would grab these peanut chikkis. If I think about the calories, I would never have these and my husband doesn’t allow me to eat it either, especially after my C-section. But I just couldn’t resist the taste and flavor.

These brittles can be made using jaggery as well as sugar. I like it either way. Whole peanuts and ground peanuts are used to make these brittles. In my childhood, when my Mom used to prepared these, I would grab some 4-5 “slabs” at a time. She used to make it with jaggery.

Once when I was googling around Ria’s blog, I came across this brittle and fell in love with these.So when this time my mom was around, I bought a packet of peanuts and we tried this ground peanut chikki using sugar and trust me, it vanished in 2-3 days !!

Adapted from here

Ingredients:

1. Peanuts- 2 cups
2. Sugar- 1 Cup

Method:

1. Melt the sugar in a non stick pan without adding water till it dissolves completely. When it turns dark brown in colour and then switch off the flame.
2. Meanwhile coarsely ground the peanuts using a rolling pin. Add these ground peanuts and mix quickly in the above caramel mixture. Spread this using the back of a spoon over a greased plate and cut with a sharp knife in desired shape.
3. When it is cool completely, cut into pieces.

Peanut Choco Rocks

Last week our house was getting repainted and I was not too much into cooking. Recently my brother bought me loads of dark and white cooking chocolates and along with the house painting, I thought of preparing some easy stuff with those chocolates, before the kitchen got messier with the painting work.

I was in search of chocolate recipes and I stumbled upon this really simple and easy preparation. This can be prepared with just 2 ingredients that are very common and handy. Even a small kid can make this with the help of an adult to melt the chocolate.

In the original recipe which I saw, the chef adds all kinds of nuts. But as I am very fond of peanuts, I added only those. In general I love adding peanuts in certain desserts like the hot chocolate fudge (which is my most favorite ice cream).

This preparation is ideal for a gift. Taking a bite into the melted chocolate along with the crunchiness of peanuts is just amazing.
Ingredients:

1. Dark Chocolate- 250gms
2. White chocolate- 250gms
3. Peanuts- 3cups (1 ½ cups for each chocolate)

Method:

1. Roast the peanuts in a skillet, remove the skin when cooled and keep it aside.
2. Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler. when it is fully melted add the roasted peanuts and mix well till all the peanuts are coated with chocolate.
3. On a parchment paper, drop one scoop of the peanut- chocolate mixture. Repeat till mixture gets finished.
4. Keep this in refrigerator for 4- 5 hours or till it is well set.
5. Repeat the same above process for the white chocolate and enjoy the choco rocks when needed.

Note:

• We can add any type of nuts like the almonds, walnuts, cashews and so on. We can also use marsh mellows instead of nuts.

I am sending this to Chocolate Mela, Valentine’s day event, Valentines Chocolate hearts, Let’s Cook and Sweet Luv.