Chikki delite J

Chikkis have always been my favorite as far as I can remember, right since I was small and used to go to one of these shops (now converted into a jewelry store) where they had all kinds of colorful and fascinating eatables. There were extra strong/peppermint /gold coins , there were colorful/peppermint tablets, some other colorful sweets in various shapes like leaves and birds, there were biscuits of animal shapes or having alphabets, biscuits with icing on top, AA sweets kaju vadi (rare now and still my favorite) and of course groundnut chikki…in small neat squares. The kind you find at road style stall but just much cleaner. Chikkis in all forms appealed to me. There was usual but so appealing groundnut chikki , groundnut powder chikki, til (sesame seeds) chikki, also called gajak in north India, roasted channa chikki dried dates chikki (rare…ate only once) coconut chikki (not that favorite…to hard) dried nut chikki and kaju chikki…the list is limited but equally delightful of course who can forget mamra/ kurmura chikki.
I remember seeing small bits of these chikkis (leaving aside exotic dried fruits) at a vendor in small glass box that he carried to sell. My mother never allowed me to get a taste of it then, but surely the mamra chikki colored red must have been amazing.
I developed taste for it mostly when my dada (dad) traveled to Pune and brought back with him mixed chikki. A true Libran I would never be able to make choice, and in the end got what my sister left. Not bad either since my sister had limited choice and main she was not fond of chikkis.
Chikkis though made all over India, places that were famous were lonavla, matheran, karjat, Rajkot and Ahmadabad. The best according to me were that of lonavla, matheran and Rajkot of course. Especially the flaky and crispy til (sesame seeds) gajak.
My love affair for chikkis began even before chikki was glamorously packaged in glossy packets and called chikkers (which never took off much).
I remember later developing love for coconut chikki (soft for teeth please) when I used to travel local trains and feast on 2 for 5 bucks stuff when fryums didn’t hold my attention the eye relentlessly searched for coconut or groundnut or channa chikki in the wicker basket full of snack goodies. Or on the way home grabbing one to sustain the hunger till home came or scrounging for change in bag of books for a bite of groundnut chikki.
My fascination to them turned into true love when I read that chikkis especially those made in jaggery or gud were a healthy snack which not only gave energy but sustained longer than bag of chips. They gave a special meal of chikki and milk to under nourished children in municipal schools. Chikki as a robust snack was known even when it seems when kokan railway was being built they provided chikki to manual labourers to make them sustain hard work for longer durations.
My chikki research also started and I realized that chikki is also made throughout the world and called by various names like Pé-de-moleque or urchin foot in Brazil, commonly called as brittle. Praline which is used in cake and chocolate flavors, originating in France and Nougat in France and Europe, Roca in USA.
In this chikki has traveled world and over and has numerous “firang” cousins but what I like most is that I can still have it at economical rate and still enjoy the same taste and feel as I did when I was small. Truly lovely.

My recent love affair with boondi ladu.

Boondi ladu was never my that favorite. As a sweet it was fine…but it came much behind Bengali sweets, till ladu, chikkis, karanjis, methi ladu etc..but it all started recently. We all go for our tea break at a tapir. You know that very well. Now at this tapri, they sell limited stuff. Only recently adding dosa to their limited menu of missal, bhaji pav, alu pav etc. out of their few collections looking inviting in glass containers at the counter. What used to catch my attention was yellow tiny boondi ladu. There were groundnut chikkis (slurp), peanut packets, soanpapdi etc etc. I sued to always wonder if these ladus were fresh enough. One day being real hungry but in no mood to fill my stomach to the brim. The snake of temptation overcame me and I ordered for a boondi ladu. My friends cautioned me against it. Staleness and the later after effects on health all were conveniently ignored when the ladu came in. I broke the ladu into half. My friends were dazed and didn’t want to have a bite. I put the first bit in the mouth. It was GOOD. The boondi was minus lots of ghee. The sugar not that syrupy…but somehow made the ladu taste divine.yaar diwana kar diya. Incidentally we don’t get these ladus that often in the market. We get the usual orange motichur (yikes) which I don’t like at all because they are soft…syrupy and just too oily. Nopes I am not dieting (remember we are talking about boondi ladu here), jut that I don’t like those ladus much. so when I went to aayi’s place, we went to one of these shops where I found these ladus in packets. The boondi were bigger but the overall content a bit superior. Its called as sukha boondi at my better half’s(?) and being a sweet freak he doesnot cherish the ladu much.
Now usually whenever I go to tapri, I order one ladu. To taste the loveliness in just two bites.