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Dry Fruit Chikki
Dry Fruit Chikki is the Indian version of nut brittle made with mixed nuts like cashews, almonds, pistachios, and walnuts. It is sweetened with jaggery and flavored with cardamom. This crunchy mixed nuts chikki is the perfect winter dessert or snack that is delicious and nutritious.
Ingredients
- ½ cup almonds halved or chopped (70 grams)
- ½ cup cashews halved or chopped (70 grams)
- ¼ cup pistachios shelled and chopped (30 grams)
- ¼ cup walnuts chopped(30 grams)
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds (30 grams)
- 1-2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1-2 tablespoons dry rose petals
- 1 cup jaggery roughly chopped (200 gms)
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon ghee and some more for greasing
Instructions
Prep Work
- Keep two large parchment papers (greased with oil or ghee) ready and a rolling pin ready. We will use this to spread and shape the mixture.
Roast nuts and seeds
- Heat a pan on medium-low heat and dry roast the mixed nuts (Cashews, almonds, pistachios, and walnuts) for 4-5 mins stirring intermittently. Ensure they don't burn.
- Now add the sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds and roast for another 2 mins.
- Turn off the heat, and mix for a couple of more mins. You can also take the pan off the heat and transfer the nuts to a clean dry bowl or plate so they don't cook further. Add the cardamom powder and dry rose petals.Mix well and keep aside.
Making Jaggery Syrup
- Heat a pan on medium-low heat and add jaggery to it.
- Keep stirring continuously till the jaggery melts and starts bubbling (turns frothy).
- Add ghee and keep stirring
- Cook jaggery until it thickens and the color changes to a slightly dark amber. (texture and color almost look like whipped coffee)
- At this point, turn the heat to low and test the jaggery syrup for hardball consistency. To do this, take a small bowl filled with cold water and drop a few drops of this melted jaggery.
- There are three ways to check, first gather some of the jaggery dropped in water and roll it into a ball, It should turn hard quickly.
- Next try to break the hardened jaggery, it should break or snap easily and clean with a sound.
- The third way to test is, to eat some hardened jaggery and it should not stick to your teeth. if it sticks to your teeth in which case you can cook for a couple of mins and do the water test again.
- If it passes all three tests, then jaggery syrup is ready! The hardened jaggery should be brittle and not soft.
- Note: Do not cook past the hardball consistency as the jaggery will burn, taste bitter, and give a very dark amber color.
Making Dry Fruit Chikki
- Once you have the right jaggery syrup consistency, stir in the roasted nuts and seeds. Mix until well combined. It will need some muscle strength.
- These next steps should be done quickly and while the mixture is still warm. Turn off the heat and immediately transfer the mixture to one parchment paper.
- Cover it with the second parchment paper and using a rolling pin, spread the mixture as thin or thick as you like but not too thin. I like to keep it to the thickness of dry fruits.
- Remove the top parchment paper, and sprinkle some more rose petals.
- Using a rolling pin, roll once again to even out. This also helps stick the sprinkled rose petals.
- Cut into 1-inch squares while it is hot. Allow cooling completely (about 10-15 mins or as long as needed).
- Break to separate the squares. They should snap off easily. Dry Fruit Chikki is ready!
Video
Notes
Use fresh nuts so they don't have a rancid smell or taste. You can use whole nuts, cut them in half, or roughly chop them.
Roast the nuts and seeds on low heat, do not brown or burn them. They will turn crunchy as they cool. You can use nuts of your choice.
If you prefer less jaggery in chikki you can also use less - 170or 180gms too
Cook jaggery syrup on medium-low heat (to avoid burning) until it reaches the hard ball stage. Do not cook jaggery beyond this point.
Start checking your jaggery syrup by adding drops in water once it starts thickening and changing color (turns darker than the original).
Overcooking the jaggery past the hardball stage can result in hard, burnt/bitter-tasting chikki. Undercooking the jaggery syrup will result in a chewy chikki that sticks to your teeth.
Remember to work quickly once the nuts and jaggery are mixed as the mixture hardens quickly and will get difficult to roll.
Use 2 parchment papers (greased with oil) to roll the chikki, which makes it easy, and clean to roll and get even layers.
Slice the chikki while it's warm, making it easy to break once cooled.
The color of the chikki can vary based on the variety of jaggery used. Mine was slightly darker in color and hence the dark color.
You can easily double or triple the recipe, just make sure you use a bigger pan so you have room to mix.
Nutrition
Calories: 72kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 0.4mg | Sodium: 0.4mg | Potassium: 52mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 0.5mg
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