Til Chikki / Yellu Chikki / Sesame Bars

, , 28 comments


I love Indian festivals not just for the traditional, fun moments we have with family and friends, but for the great food each festival has to offer. As kids, we looked forward to those moments of feasting at home. A wide spread platter of food ranging from feisty meals to dessert treats awaited each festival.

Ganesh Chaturthi meant Modaks (kadabu) made by amma just once a year. Yeah, just once and that too on this day alone. Imagine the torture and desperation that makes us wait a year long! Then, Diwali had treats like Karjikai, Shankarpoli, Payasa, etc... Tulsi Pooja made us wait long for the Panchakajjaya. The Til laddu was the most awaited for Sankranti. While at my paternal grandma's place, festival like Navratri mean huge feasting for 9 long days with 20 odd dishes for each day followed very religiously as a mark of respect, tradition and offerings to Goddess.


This tradition is now slowing drifting away from my hands and I am unable to live up to what my parents and grandparents followed, though I try my best to follow when ever I possibly can. It's my hectic work schedules that seizes away at least 10-11 hours of my time at work, the rest for home chores, while I am drained and left with little sleep for the day. It's no excuse, I know. But with posts like these, I am trying to compensate on what I have lost.

Til laddu is a common traditional recipe for Sankranti, a festival that marks the beginning of Spring or the harvest season. The recipe remains the same, irrespective of the laddus or chikkis. I opted to make these chikkis as they were quicker and easier. Time saving factor, again for ease??? With Ugadi that went by more than 2 months ago or Sankranti about 4 months ago, I do not mind making these again to review those festive spirits again and again. I am here with these simple and traditional Til chikki.


Til Chikki/Sesame Bars

INGREDIENTS

1 cups white sesame (til) seeds
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp butter

DIRECTIONS

Roast sesame seeds in a saucepan till they become light brown. Keep them aside.

Grease an inverted stainless steel plate (flat side) and knife.

Heat 1/2 cup brown sugar and butter so that it melts to a syrupy consistency. Allow it to heat up till it comes to a boil. Remove from flame. Add in the white sesame seeds to the syrup and mix.

Immediately transfer this mixture to the greased plate. Using a rolling pin spread the mixture across uniformly. This needs to be done very quickly, else the sugar will start setting up making it difficult later. While it's hot, run a greased knife across it to serrate it into squares or rectangles as preferred.


Traditionally these are made with jaggery. But getting the right consistency is not an easy task, especially if you are a beginner. It needs a little practice to master. My mom and grand-mom mastered that art well. I have a long way to go till I reach that stage! I opted brown sugar which was the closest I could get with jaggery. They still tasted exactly similar. You may use normal white sugar instead of traditional jaggery or brown sugar, which will work excellent. These caramelized nutty bars with delicate flavors of sesame and cardamom will stay for long when stored in air-tight containers.

28 comments:

  1. Yummmmmmyyyyyyyy! They look so adorable, waiting to be gobbled up! I love Chikki like crazy, like really really crazy! I could eat it anytime of day, anytime of year, and without much guilt too! (I just "pretend" not to feel guilty though; cos if you see the copious amounts of Chikki I eat, you'd think Im on the way to Diabetes!!) This is the next best addictive thing to Chocolate if you asked me :)

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  2. Gorgeous tikki, i am big fan of festive goodies especially savories!

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  3. Beautifull clicks, i usually do peanut chikki but this one is surely worth a try..thankd for sharing

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  4. Chikkis look so good Mallika, send me some, will you??:-))

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  5. beautiful click.....my all time fav..must try one..thx 4 sharing

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  6. looks so yummy ..perfect sesame bars.nice pic too..
    what u said is right getting the right consistency is a very difficult process while using jaggery.i haven't tried with brown sugar..try ur version soon..

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  7. Wow those tikkis looks good..reminds so many childhood memories!
    Nice click.

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  8. Hey these look so delicious! And looks like the brown sugar has turned out good enough.. Great job! :)

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  9. Mallika,

    Til chikki looks really good. It is my childhood favorite.

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  10. love those , never made at home..yours looks so professionally made

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  11. First time here Mallika. you got a nice space and loved all your food photography. will be back for see more.

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  12. thanks for visiting my space!!! you have a beeeeautiful blog and the pics r all breathtaking...will be back to check out more...

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  13. I love sesame seed bars very much .I prepare this often using jaggery and whenever I have cravings so eat sweets ,I prefer to eat this.I too have this in my draft waiting to be posted.Your pictures look lovely.

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  14. beautiful pics ,the til chikki looks perfect:)

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  15. Wow, looks wonderful...exactly like store bought' very professional finish and I like til chiki very much, wanna try this in future:)

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  16. PLease collect Happy 101 Award from my blog. I'm very blissed to share it with you.
    Happy blogging!!

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  17. I'm not a big chikki fan, but ur clicks seem so inviting....I wanna grab some now.

    Yum-O!

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  18. looks so tempting..let me have one :)

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  19. Wow.. chiki looks yummy.. :)

    I am really not sure if I have been here before, but sure to be back often now. Amazing pics and lovely collection of recipes. Keep it going buddy. Your photography is phenomenal. :)

    Do peep into my space sometime. You are most welcome.

    Nithya
    www.4thsensecooking.com
    www.nitsarts.blogspot.com

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  20. Hey the chikki looks fantastic with neat finish..I love chikki's..parcel me some. The photo is as always I need not say anything .. perfect!!!

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  21. hey the chikki looks fabulous ...
    i also prepared sesame ladoo on the occasion of sankranthi .

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  22. Sesame bars! Like that food so much! A friend of mine (who's from China), always brings me those whenever he visits me here. But I like ones that are not too sweet, so that my teeth won't get damaged.

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  23. Hello, a bit confusion abt the sugar quantity..should i use 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup..

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  24. When to add cardamom powder?

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  25. everybody is crazy about the posted picture nobody is interested to try to prepare and share how it came out from others... huh

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  26. woowww!!! these seems to be delicious that can't resist to grab them all bt need to knw with what material it shud be greased before placing into a pan......
    i wish i cud be such great cook like u..

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