BMF'S FOOD COLUMN

11 November 2009

"El Chikki Chikki" Menu

Firstly I would like to apologize for such a late food column. I am a bad lecturer who spent too many hours in the Pepsi U bar last week, mainly because my own supply of alcohol was stolen from my house on campus by an individual who shall go unnamed (*cough PM*). Also, this food column may not be my finest as my concentration skills were depleted by the constant playing of a certain controversial song which shall also go unnamed.(*cough el shitty shitty*). Now luckily for me, there is actually a cuisine that makes delicious food called "Chikki" and it just so happens to be one of my favourite cuisines, Indian!

Chikki is a traditional Indian sweet that combines groundnuts sugar, liquid glucose and jaggery. In England, this type of sweet is referred to as brittle and there are many different varieties, named according to the ingredients used such as puffed/roasted bengal gram, sesame, puffed rice, beaten rice, and dessicated coconut. If you are cooking to impress( which I am always doing, because cooking is my secret weapon and without it, I have NOTHING), then cashews, pistachios and almonds can be included in the recipe. This recipe is NOT rocket science and is so easy to make, that even the biggest idiot in the kitchen with 10 million distractions could attempt this. You could make this blindfolded with Silvia Castro Leon straddling you, begging you to rip off her top. You could make this while Pepa Miranda frisked you from behind. Ok so I think you all get my point! Chikki is sexy because it doesn't make a mess, so you can eat it in bed or feed it to someone in bed....and the aroma that wafts from the kitchen while preparing this is worth the potentially dangerous 3rd degree burns if you touch the very very hot sugar.

Ingredients: 1 cup peanuts 1 cup sugar 3 tea spoons ghee ( that's clarified butter to you and I ) 1/2 tea spoon cardamom powder ( optional, as I am assuming not many of you have this awesome spice)

Method: Roast the peanuts on a medium flame or if you are not a cave woman, do it in the oven. Remove the skin and make a coarse powder.( To be honest, buy peanuts without the skin and that solves the frustrating peeling problem) Heat ghee, add sugar. Heat on a medium/low flame, mixing it continuously. When all sugar melts down, immediately add the peanut powder. Remove from heat and mix well. Grease a plate/cutting board with ghee, pour this mixture on top, roll into a big round. Cut them immediately.

P.S (Pepa.Silvia): The sugar should not be heated for long. Once it melts down, immediately the peanut powder should be added. (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TO NOT SPILL ANY ON YOURSELF BECAUSE IT F**KING BURNS!!) Mixture should not be allowed to cool before spreading. If it cools a bit, it cannot be spread and once it reaches this point, you cannot bring it to normal again.