Chikki is a very healthy and tasty traditional food in our country. They are usually made up of nuts and seeds along with jaggery or sugar. Home-made chikki is always preferred over commercially available chikki. Homemade ones are freshly prepared with good quality ingredients and they are free of liquid glucose, preservatives, artificial flavoring substances. Here are 13 healthy and tasty homemade chikki recipes, an ideal snack to meet your health goal.

What are the basic steps in homemade chikki recipes?

There are certain basic steps of chikki preparation.

1. Step-1: Select ingredients like nuts, seeds, dry fruits.
2. Step-2: Pre-preparation of ingredients like removing the skin (optional) and seeds (optional)
3. Step-3: Crushing of ingredients (if required)
4. Step-4: Dissolving required amounts of sugar or jaggery in little water to make a thick syrup
5. Step-5: Adding ingredients to sugar or jaggery solution and mixing.
6. Step-6: Cooking for a few minutes with care so that no burning takes place.
7. Step-7: Greasing a plate with ghee or oil, spreading the cooked mass uniformly and cooling it.
8. Step-8: Cutting the chikki into desired size and shape. Now your chikki is ready to serve.

Precautions to be taken during following chikki recipe at home

• Do not use oil during roasting of seeds and / or nuts.
• Stir continuously during roasting to avoid the risk of burning.
• Do not use water during the grinding of seeds.
• For getting a good taste of the chikki, only coarsely grind the nuts or seeds, do not make a smooth paste or fine powder out of it.
• Use minimum water to dissolve sugar or jaggery and to avoid burning. Don’t use excess water which will adversely affect the taste of the recipe.
• Throughout the cooking, use low to medium flame. Do not cook at high flame.
• Stir occasionally during the preparation of chikki.

  

Possible variations in chikki recipes

Usually high calorie, nutrient-dense foods are utilized to prepare chikki, burfi, and laddu. Several types of nuts, seeds, and dry fruits can be used to prepare chikki. For your convenience, there is a list of foods that can be used to prepare chikki.

Table-1: List of Foods that can be used to prepare chikki

Types of Basic Ingredients	Name of foods
Nuts	Coconut Groundnuts Cashew nuts Almonds Pistachio
Seeds	Sesame seeds (white til) Niger seeds (Black til) Garden cress seeds (Halim or aliv seeds) Watermelon seeds (charmagaz or magaz) Pumpkin seeds (Kaddookebeej)
Dry fruits	Dates
Pulses	Bengal gram (roasted chana) Moong dal (roasted)
Cereals	Rice flakes Puffed rice
Others	Mango peels

What are the types of chikki?

Chikkis can be prepared in many ways according to the availability of ingredients, your taste, and your personal choices.

Table-2: Types of Chikkis

Types of Chikki	Examples
According to the types of ingredients used	Nuts chikki like groundnut or peanut chikki, crushed peanut chikki, coconut chikki etc. Cereal bar like bar or rice flakes chikki etc Seeds chikki like white til chikki, watermelon chikki etc. Mixed chikki includes all chikki made up of seed and nuts together
According to the types of processing of ingredients	Regular chikki like peanut chikki, til chikki Crushed chikki of soft chikki like crushed peanut chikki, crushed coconut chikki, crush watermelon seed chikki, etc.
According to the nutritive value of chikki	High-calorie chikki Protein-rich chikki Iron-rich chikki Micronutrient dense chikki
According to the types of sweeteners used	Chikki with sugar Chikki with jaggery Chikki without added sugar. (sweetened with dates instead of sugar or jaggery)

How long chikki can be stored?

Chikki can be stored on the kitchen shelf for a week or in the refrigerator for two weeks. They must be kept in an air-tight container.

Here, I like to suggest few healthy and tasty chikki recipes of which some are very common recipes that are popular throughout the country whereas there are certain less commonly used nutritious chikki recipes. You may try these recipes at your home with minimum time and the least effort.

Five Most Popular Chikki Recipes

Chikki Recipe-1: GroundnutChiki / Badamchikki / Badamtakti

Ingredients

1. Groundnuts: 70g
2. Jaggery:  30g

Method of Preparation

• Remove the brown skin of freshly roasted groundnuts.
• Dissolve the jaggery in little water. Add groundnut. Cook for a few minutes.
• Grease oil in a plat and spread the cooked peanut, cool it and made chikki out of it.

Chikki Recipe-2: Crushed peanut Chiki / Crushed groundnut Chiki / Soft peanut Chiki

Ingredients

1. Groundnuts (Roasted and crushed): 70g
2. Sugar:  30g

Method of Preparation

• Remove the brown skin of freshly roasted groundnuts and coarsely grind them.
• Heat one tablespoon of water and dissolve the sugar in it.
• Now add groundnut powder, mix well. Cook for 5 minutes with stirring occasionally.
• Grease oil in a plat and then spread the cooked peanut, cool it and then cut into desired shape.

Chikki Recipe-3: Til Chiki / sesame seeds chikki

Ingredients

1. Sesame seeds (white til): 4 tablespoons
2. Sugar:  4 tablespoons

Method of Preparation

• Slightly roast sesame seeds in a dry tawa.
• Dissolve the sugar in a tablespoon of hot water. Add white til. Cook for a few minutes with constant stirring.
• Grease a plate with ghee. Uniformly spread the sesame seeds and cool it.
• Cut the mass into small pieces. Your chikki is ready.

Chikki Recipe-4: Till and peanut chikki with jaggery

Ingredients

• Peanuts: 40g
• white til (Sesame seeds): 30g
• Jaggery:  30g

Method of Preparation

• Dry roast peanuts and sesame seeds separately. Remove the brown coat of peanuts.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of water, add jaggery and dissolve it. Now add roasted peanuts and white til. Cook for few minutes until it converted into a semi-solid mass.
• Uniformly spread the semi-solid mass over a previously greased plate and cool it.
• Cut the mass into small pieces. Your chikki is ready.

Chikki Recipe-5: Cashew chikki recipe with jaggery

Ingredients

• Cashew nuts: 70g
• Jaggery:  30g

Method of Preparation

• Slightly roast the cashew over the low flame. Break the cashews into smaller pieces.
• Heat the required amounts of jaggery along with water, and add the broken cashew pieces. Mix well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Spread the cooked cashew chikki over a previously greased plate, cool it and made chikki out of it.

Eight Less Popular Chikki Recipes

Chikki Recipe-6: Roasted Halim seeds, dates chikki

Ingredients

1. Garden cress seeds (Halim seeds): 20g
2. Dates: 60g
3. Jaggery: 20g

Method of Preparation

1. Dry roast halim seeds (garden cress) seeds in a tawa without using oil.
2. Remove the seeds from the dates, grind the into a thick paste, using a grinder. Use 2 teaspoons of water, if required.
3. Heat the date paste and jaggery in a pan, then add the roasted seeds, mix well.
4. Cook for 5 minutes and then turn off the flame.
5. Grease a steel thali with little ghee and uniformly spread the semi-solid cooked mass over it, cool it for half an hour.
6. Now cut the total mass into small square pieces using a sharp knife.
7. Your chikki is ready, serve to your kids. You may also store it in an air-tight container.

Chikki Recipe-7: Multiseed mix chikki

Ingredients

1. Garden cress seeds (Halim seeds): 10g
2. Niger seed (Black til): 10g
3. Flax seeds (alsi): 10g
4. Pumpkin seeds: 10g
5. Watermelon seeds (char mogoz): 10g
6. Sesame seeds (White til): 10g
7. Jaggery: 40g

Method of Preparation

• Take a flat tawa, heat it for a minute.
• Add flax seed, roast for 2 minutes with constant stirring. Remove it from the hot pan.
• In the same way, roast other seeds (halim seeds, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, sesame seeds, niger seeds) separately.
• Take all the roasted seeds in a bowl and mix well using a spoon.
• Heat two tablespoons of water, add the jaggery, melt I and then add the seed mixture. Mix well by constant stirring.
• Grease a steel plate with little ghee and uniformly spread the semi-solid cooked mass over it, cool it for half an hour.
• Cut the total mass into small pieces using a sharp knife.
• The multi seed chikki is ready, store it in an air-tight container.
• You may store the healthy mixed seed chikkifor 7 days at room temperature or15 days in the refrigerator.
• Consume one or two mixed seed chikkiin daily.

Chikki Recipe-8: Coconut chick with aliv seeds / Nariyelki burfi

Ingredients

• Aliv seeds: 2 tablespoons
• Grated coconut: Half cup
•  Jaggery or sugar: 2 tablespoons
• Ghee: for greasing
• Cardamom powder: A pinch

Method of Preparation

• Roast the aliv seeds in a pan for 2 minutes.
• Heat two tablespoons of water, add the jaggery or sugar, melt it, then add roasted aliv seeds and grated coconut. Mix well.
• Cook for 5 minutes with occasional constant stirring.
• Spread little ghee over a flat plate. Now take the cooked semi-solid coconut mass over the plate and spread it uniformly. Cool it.
• Cut the total mass into square pieces using a sharp knife.
• You may serve the freshly prepared healthy chikki as an evening snack, or you may store it in the kitchen self for consumption for next week.

Chikki Recipe-9: Crushed Watermelon Seed Chiki

Ingredients

1. Watermelon seeds (crushed): 3 tablespoons
2. Coconut (crushed): 2 tablespoons
3. Sugar:  2 tablespoons

Method of Preparation

• Purchase watermelon seeds (charmagaz) from the local market and roast them on a dry tawa for 2 minutes. Grind the roasted seeds coarsely.
• Grate the coconut and crush it using a grinder.
• Heat a kodai and add crushed coconut and watermelon seeds together. Mix well.
• Cook for 5 minutes and then add sugar. Mix thoroughly.
• Cook for another few minutes until it comes easily out of the container.
• Grease a steel plate with little ghee, eventually spread the cooked mixture uniformly and cool it.
• Cut the total mass into small square pieces using a knifeand store them in an air-tight container.

Chikki Recipe-10: Chana badam chikki recipe with jaggery

Ingredients

1. Roasted chana (Bengal gram): 30g
2. Roasted badam (peanuts): 30g
3. Jaggery: 40g

Method of Preparation

• Remove the seedcoats of peanuts and Bengal gram. Coarsely ground them.
• Heat water with jaggery, add coarsely ground chana and badam to it, Mix it. Cook up to desired consistency. Cool it slightly and make chikki out of it.

Chikki Recipe-11: Rice flakes Bengal gram chikki

Ingredients

1. Rice flakes: 35g
2. Bengal gram: 35g
3. Jaggery: 30g

Method of Preparation

• Roast rice flakes and Bengal grams separately. Remove the seed coat of Bengal gram.
• Ground the roasted rice flakes and Bengal grams to make into powder.
• Dissolve jaggery in little water, add the powdered ingredients and mix well. Cook for a few minutes.
• Prepare small chikkis out of the semi solid cooked mass.

Chikki Recipe-12: Ripe mango peel chikki

Ingredients

1. Peels of ripe mango: 60g
2. Sugar: 40g

Method of Preparation

• Remove the peels of ripe mango, cut the peels into small pieces.
• Heat two tablespoons of water, add the mango peels, cook for 2 minutes, add the sugar and cook until the desired consistency is attained.
• Spread the thick cooked mango peel over a greased plate, cool it and cut them into small pieces.

Also read Raw Mango peel chikki recipe

Chikki Recipe-13: Rice flakes chikki with peanut or Cereal bar

Ingredients

1. Rice flakes: 40g
2. Peanut: 20g
3. Sugar: 40g

Method of Preparation

• Roast the rice flakes at low flame and ground them into powder.
• Roast groundnuts, remove their brown coat and coarsely ground them.
• Heat water, add sugar and then add powdered ingredients. Mix well. Cook for 2 minutes. Spread it over an oil-greased plate and cool it.
• When cooled cut the cooked mass into a rectangular shape. Now your rice flakes chikki or healthy cereal bar is ready.

Which is the Best chikki?

Home-made nutritious chikki which can be prepared easily using locally available ingredients within your budget is best for you. A combination of nuts and seeds is better than the single ingredients chikki.

Why should we take chikki?

Chikkis are homemade delicious sweet snack recipes. We should consume different types of chikki because of the following reasons-

1. Chikki is high calorie, high protein snacks, most suitable for growing kids and adolescents.
2. They are rich sources of healthy fat like MUFA and MUFA.
3. They are an excellent source of minerals like calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium which play an important role in maintaining good health.
4. They are good sources of fibre that help in the proper elimination of feces and thus helps to prevent constipation.
5. They are free of cholesterol, so can be taken by cardiac patients.
6. Since they are a good source of protein and iron, they are beneficial for anemic individuals.

Bottom Line

Chikkis are the traditional foods of India. They are high-calorie, nutrient-dense snacks, made up of seeds and nuts with jaggery or sugar. Various types of chikki can be made by altering the basic ingredients, changing the processing methods. Peanut chikki, til chikki, cashew chikki are the most popular chikki whereas mixed seed chikki, rice flakes chikki, mango peel chikkki, etc are less familiar healthy, and tasty recipes. Chikki is an excellent source of minerals like calcium, iron, zinc, and magnesium.