Peanuts - Coconut Chikki

I love this version of chikki - although using Sugar instead of Jaggery in this version but it's ok to binge once in a while :-) and unlike other sweets we eat small portions of these ... so not too much sugar goes in anyway.

Very few ingredients and quite easy.  Here we go..

Ingredients: 

1 cup peanuts
0.5 cup Desiccated coconut
a little less to 1.5 cups sugar - I used castor sugar.
2 tsp ghee and little more to grease.

Procedure:

1. Dry roast peanuts in a Kadhai / Pan and when cooled down peel them off.

2. Dry roast coconut just for 3-4 minutes until raw smell goes away and add it to the peanuts.

3. Once cooled, grind them in a mixer to a little coarse consistency as the coarse peanuts tastes 
    better in chikki.

4. In a heavy base pan pour in the little Ghee ( 2 tsp ).

5. Once melted, add the sugar.

6. Once the sugar starts melting, keep stirring and make sure it doesn't stick to the pan.

7. Keep stirring until we reach the caramel stage. ( See pic below )

8. Switch off the flame and pour in peanuts - coconut ground mixture in it and start mixing well.

9. On a greased platform / Baking paper pour in this mixture fully and start rolling it into a spread.
     For thickness see the photo below.

10. While its hot use either a greased knife or a Pizza cutter to form shape of squares.

11. Let it completely cool down.

12. Comes out very crunchy and super yummy Chikis....

Note: You have to be a bit quick for steps 8,9 process and careful too !

Enjoy :-)

                                             Coarse powder of roasted peanuts and coconut

                                             Sugar on little Ghee - ready to caramelise

                  Wait until this stage comes in ..but not too much otherwise burnt flavour will get added in

                                              Rolled out mixture and  shaped into squares

                                              Ready !!!!!!  they were amazingly crunchy and perfect sweet.

Beetroot and Spinach Burger (Baked and bit stir fried )

Tried this recipe  as an option for my Son's lunch box.. He liked it so it might enter his lunch box one day :-)

I wanted to avoid frying to retain all nutrients well... and keep it a bit light..
so here it goes.. :-)

These are the ingredients as per our taste ... but burgers can accommodate lot of different flavours and veggies so be creative and experiment  :-)

It made around 5 medium sized burgers.

Ingredients :

1 medium beetroot
2 medium sized potatoes
2 handfuls of Spinach leaves - chop them finely and stir fry in little bit bit of oil - use when wilted
grated ginger ( I take it around 1-2 tsp ; but adjust as per your taste )
1 tsp Jeera powder
2 tsp Chaat powder
1 Tblsp  rice flour
1 white bread slice - powdered in blender
salt to taste
2 tsp black pepper powder ( I used as my kids dont like chilli spice but you can use it )
tsp of lemon juice or more or less as per your taste
6-7 twigs of coriander leaves finely chopped
Sesame seeds - optional for topping
little oil for stir frying at the end

Procedure :

1. Pressure cook potatoes and beetroot for soft well cooked veggies.
    tip: Make sure to place potatoes and beet in a pan ( without water in it ) inside pressure cooker. If
           we cook them directly in the cooker, they become soggy and more wet.
2. Peel off both beet and potatoes.
3. Grate beetroot for even consistency and mash potatoes in a bowl. Add wilted spinach leaves and
    mix well.
4. Add all flavours one by one as listed above along with rice flour and powdered bread slice.
5. Mix everything well together and make a dough. Adjust with more bread if its sticky ..too much
    of rice flour will affect the taste but not the bread. Apply little oil to have sticky less dough.
6. Pre heat the oven at 180 Deg C .
7. Make burger shaped patties and  bake them for 10 min for just to have an even cooking of
    burgers.
8. In a wide frying pan add 1-2 table spoon of oil and heat it.
9. Remove burgers from Oven and place them in frying pan oil. Apply Sesame seeds before stir     
    frying if you wish.

Stir fry from both sides to get nice crisp on them Or as per your taste.

Ready to serve :-)  Serve with your choice of salad leaves onion tomato - or whatever your child likes :-)
Hope you try and like it - leave a comment if you liked it :-)

I made them on valentines day as a healthy Pink in diet :-) So i made some heart shaped patties with the dough.... baked and stir fried same way... so you can either eat like a burger or just on its own like patties..