I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s been rather cold these last few days. And when it’s cold, the body and soul yearn for something that gives you ample heat. No, I am not talking about soups, which is of course not a bad way of combating the cold. When the weather is this dismal, I reach out for a slab of chikki.
Now chikki, as I am sure you know, is an Indian sweet that’s eaten in winter. It is a chunk of jaggery embedded with peanuts. A good chikki is all about good jaggery. Actually, the best jaggery is the one that you get in the end of the winter season. One way to recognize good jaggery is by its colour. If it’s light yellow, bypass it. If it’s dark brown, it’s generally good – though some merchants also add caramelised sugar to their jaggery to get the right colour.
When I was a lad, chikkis were mostly prepared with peanuts or even channa dal. But over the years, the humble chikki has been given quite a makeover. Now you get them embedded with almonds and pistachio. I like the taste of different kinds of nuts in a chikki— but of course it also ends up raising the price.
One of the best shops for chikki is Kanwarji’s in Chandni Chowk. They were earlier known mainly for their namkeens – especially their dal beeji, which is a mix of dal and small sewaian – and their aloo samosas and gulab jamuns. I have always liked their gulab jamuns, which are long and soft. Now, for several years, they have been selling various kinds of chikki. So when I heard that a friend had recently bought some rose chikki from Kanwarji’s, I thought I needed to revisit the shop.
Kanwarji’s– one of the oldest shops in Chandni Chowk— is at the mouth of Paranthewali Gali. It’s been partitioned over the years, and I tend to buy my goodies from the one that’s closer to Paranthewali Gali.
I asked for – and was promptly given – a box of rose petal chikki. It costs Rs.600 for a kilo, but 250 grams of the chikki kept us all going for quite a few days. The great thing about Kanwarji’s chikki is that the jaggery is excellent. The rose petal chikki though has more sugar than jaggery. Though predominantly prepared with peanuts (and in desi ghee, I may as well add), it had other nuts such as bits of almond and pistachio. The rose petals gave it a nice bitter-sweet taste, and quite an attractive appearance.
Elsewhere, chikkis are often thick. But Kanwarji’s chikki is thin— which makes it tastier and easier to eat. I also liked the fact that it wasn’t very sweet, as some gooey chikkis can be. The popular north Indian concept of eating chikkis, peanuts and rewris (small sesame seed and sugar or jaggery discs, often flavoured with rose water) makes sense. A basic chikki is not very expensive either.
So for a small amount of money, you can get all the energy— and flavours— that you need. It makes a bone-chilling evening so much easier to bear.
