Coconut Chikki

As the winter sets in, we use lot of jaggery at home. So many delicious goodies made of jaggery. With iron and vitamin C, jaggery has qualities to keep the body warm. Mom would encourage us to have lot of ghee and gud during winters. Don't forget the gud, ghee and bajra rotla... It is the ultimate winter food for Gujaratis.

With Makar Sankranti time when we make lots of chikkis and brittles at home, Gud/jaggery is the important ingredient. Filled with nutritional values and benefits, jaggery is a must to use in every home. Every culture has their way of using jaggery... in tea, in chikki, in gujarati dal, puran poli, in masala gud from north and many more.

I was just watching one of Rujuta Diwekar's live video of Facebook where she explains how ghee and gud and important for our body specially during winter, and this recipe is a good example to incorporate these main ingredients in day-to-day life. I love her logical explanations just like what our parents told us and our ancestors did. This chikki can be a wonderful snack or dessert after a meal.

While it is chikki time, and remembering all the chikki flavors from Lanavala, I tried to make coconut chikki. Here is the recipe...simple, easy, and quick.

Ingredients
1 cup finely chopped jaggery
1 cup dessicated coconut
2 tsp. ghee

• In a heavy bottom pan, dry roast coconut for 1-2 minutes. Remove in a plate.
• Heat ghee and finely chopped or powdered jaggery in a pan. Let it melt completely. Check for hard ball consistency. Since I use organic powdered jaggery. Melting gud/jaggery is enough. I do not have to heat it a lot. If you are using very soft jaggery, you will have to stir it slightly longer after melting it to form a hard and crisp chikki.
• Add roasted coconut and stir well to mix.
• Remove in a greased pan and pat chikki tightly with a flat side of a greased bowl.
• Cut into pieces while still warm.
• Cool and remove the pieces from the tray. 
• Store in a container and enjoy!

  Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

In a heavy bottom pan, dry roast coconut for 1-2 minutes. Remove in a plate.

Heat ghee and finely chopped or powdered jaggery in a pan. Let it melt completely. Check for hard ball consistency. Since I use organic powdered jaggery. Melting gud is enough. I do not have to heat it a lot. If you are using very soft jaggery, you will have to stir it slightly longer after melting it to form a hard and crisp chikki.

Add roasted coconut and stir well to mix.

Remove in a greased pan and pat chikki tightly with a flat side of a greased bowl.

Cut into pieces while still warm.

Cool and remove the pieces from the tray.

Enjoy!!