Ellu mittai /Sesame Seeds Chikki, a delicious and crunchy candy made from sesame seeds and jaggery. It makes a great after meal snack to satisfy your sugar cravings. 

Here in this recipe, i have used white sesame seeds.However, this chikki can be made with both black and white sesame seeds. 

The key to make any candy successfully is the sugar syrup consistency. For this mittai/chikki, the sugar consistency should be hard ball stage. Once you get the sugar syrup consistency perfectly, everything else is such a breeze.

Sesame Seeds 

As i said earlier, you can use either black or white sesame seeds or even a mix of both sesame seeds in this mittai. Make sure that the sesame seeds are well roasted so that the mittai don't have the raw smell of the sesame seeds. 

Jaggery 

For this recipe, i have used "achu vellam"/ cone shaped jaggery available in the market. But round jaggery/ powder jaggery also works fine for this recipe. The color of this mittai  purely depends on the color of the jaggery. So if you want dark colored chikki use the dark color jaggery.

Tips to make the perfect chikki /mittai

• Once the sugar syrup reaches the hard ball stage, keep the flame in the lowest possible temperature and do the remaining task as quickly as possible. 
• Make sure to cut deep enough in the chikki while it's hot. Otherwise it would be hard to make neat pieces. I didn't make deep cuts in my chikki so it was difficult to make neat edges. I had to break it, which you can see it in the pictures :-) 
• Butter paper helps to roll the chikki smoothly without sticking. If you don't have butter paper then grease your rolling pin generously with ghee and then roll.

Now let's check out how to make these delicious ellu mittai/ sesame seeds chikki.

Ellu Mittai| Sesame Seeds Chikki

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Yields : 12 
Recipe Category: Candy | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ellu Mittai, White sesame seeds candy, Sesame Seeds Chikki,Indian Candy Ellu mittai /Sesame Seeds Chikki, a delicious and crunchy candy made from the sesame seed and jaggery.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

White Sesame - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1/2 cup

Water - 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

First heat a pan , add the sesame seeds and roast till they are aromatic & transfer into a another plate.

In the same pan, add the jaggery and water. Let the jaggery melts completely.

Then boil the jaggery syrup in medium flame until it reaches the hard ball stages( if you add a little bit of jaggery syrup in a cold water, it should form hard ball . That's the correct stage of jaggery syrup). Then immediately switch off the flame and add the cardamom powder.

Next add the roasted sesame seeds to the jaggery syrup and mix it well quickly and transfer on to the parchment sheet.

Place an another parchment sheet on the sesame chikki mixture and roll it with a rolling pin. Then cut into a desired shapes. It sets instantly so make the marks with knifve immediately so that later you can break into pieces.

That's it, Delicious Sesame Chikki is ready. Store it in a airtight container once it's completely cooled.

Notes:

• It stays well for a month at room temperature.
• Store it in air tight container to keep it crunchy for longer time.

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Ellu Urundai | Sesame Seed Ladoo | Ladoo Recipe

Ellu Urundai, a delicious sesame seed balls sweetened with jaggery syrup. I have been thinking of posting this recipe for a very long time and yesterday when I was browsing through pinterest, I found out that the ellu urundai is one of the dishes prepared for ganesh chathurthi. 

In our family, we make kozhukattai/mothagam and sundal for ganesh chathurthi, never remember of making ellu urundai on this particular day, later when i talked to Amma, she mentioned that even in some part of tamilnadu, ellu urundai is prepared for ganesh chathurthi. 

With all that being said, thought it's the right time to post this recipe since ganesh chathurthi is just a few days away, today morning i have prepared this ellu urundai. It's such a simple recipe to make in no time during this festive season.

Now coming to the recipe, the cooking part of making this ellu urundai is so simple if you got the correct syrup consistency. When it comes to shaping them, I find it a little difficult to bear the heat. 

If you're like me who can't bear the heat and have sensitive hands(the heat from the jaggery syrup would easily burn the palm slightly, nothing to scare but still it hurts a little.), I would suggest making them as burfi instead of balls.

Once the mixture is ready, pour it on the greased plate and let it cool for mins and then you can cut into desired shape.Now let's see how to make this delicious sesame ladoo.

Ellu Urundai | Sesame Seed Ladoo

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Makes : 8  
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ellu Urundai, Sesame Seed Ladoo, Sesame Seed Balls Ellu Urundai, a delicious sesame seed balls sweetened with jaggery syrup.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Sesame Seed - 1/4 cup
Jaggery - 1/4 cup
Cardamom -1 
Water - 1/4 cup

Procedure

First heat a pan and dry roast the sesame seed until it starts to burst, remove it from the heat and transfer into the plate.

In the same pan, add the jaggery and water and let the jaggery melts completely.

Strain the jaggery syrup to remove the impurities and pour the syrup back into the pan(make sure to clean the pan before using) and add powdered cardamom & bring into boil again.

Once the syrup starts to bubble, pour few drops of syrup in the water and check the consistency.

The syrup should form a soft ball consistency, that means you can take the syrup from the water and able to form a ball. That's the correct stage, add the roasted sesame seed and mix it well.

Within few seconds, it forms together a ball, remove from the heat and start making small balls.

Tada, Yummy Sesame balls/ Ellu Urundai is ready.

Related: How to make Poori Urundai / Puffed Rice Balls

Notes:

• The syrup consistency is important to form the ball shape, so keep the flame in low when the syrup is about to reach the consistency to make sure that you don't miss the correct stage.
• Apply a few drops of ghee in your hands, it will helps to roll smoothly.
• You must roll them when the mixture is hot, if you can't bear the heat, simply layer it on the tray and cut into pieces.
• Instead of white sesame seed, you can used black sesame seed also.
  

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Ellu Kozhukattai | Ellu Pooranam Kozhukattai | Vinayagar Chathurthi Recipe

Ellu Kozhukattai, a steamed dumpling made from sweet sesame seed stuffing. Healthy and tasty snacks used to be prepared on Vinayagar chathurthi. In our home, we usually make chana dal pooranam kozhukattai for Vinayagar chathurthi. 

But i have seen people (those who are from North part of  Tamilnadu )making ellu kozhukattai & ellu urundai  on chathurthi days and  i tasted this kozhukattai a couple of times from the neighbors when we were in Villupuram. 

For this year vinayagar chathurthi, as I had already posted two savory kozhukattai recipe(Pidi kozhukattai & Ragi Kozhukattai), here comes the sweet & delicious ellu kozhukattai. The best part of this kozhukattai is that you can prepare the stuffing ahead and store in the refrigerator.It stays well for upto 5 days in the refrigerator.

Ellu Kozhukattai

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 10 
Recipe Category: Snack | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ellu Kozhukattai, Ellu poornam Kozhukattai, Sesame seed Modak, Ellu Kozhukattai, a steamed dumpling made from sweet sesame seed stuffing.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Sesame seed/ Ellu - 1/4 cup
Peanut(roasted) - 1 tbsp
Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Cardamom - 2
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/8 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Water - 1/3 cup

Procedure

First let's make the pooranam, heat the kadai, add sesame seed and dry roast till it starts to pop,remove from heat and let it cool.

In the same pan, add the coconut and roast till it becomes slightly golden brown, switch off the flame and let it cool. Once the sesame seeds are cooled, add into mixie/blender jar.

Add peanuts and cardamom into mixie jar and grind into coarse mixture. Now add powdered jaggery & coconut.

Pulse it few times until it all blends together and transfer into a plate. Make small balls from the grounded mixture. That's it our stuffing is ready.

Let's make the outer layer, heat the water in a kadai, add salt and sesame oil into it and let it boil. Once the water comes to boil, switch off the flame.

Immediately add the rice flour and mix it vigorously until it all comes together. Keep it aside covered for 5 mins.

Once the dough comes to hand bearable temperature, mix it with your hand and make a smooth dough.Make equal small lemon size balls from the dough.Grease your hands with sesame oil, take a rice ball and with help of your finger tips, make a kinnam(small bowl).

Place the stuffing inside the kinnam and seal the edges as shown in below pic.

Do the same for the remaining dough and place all in the greased steamer/idly plate and steam it  for 8-10 mins.

Tada, Ellu Kozhukattai is ready to serve.

Related : How to make Poorna Kozhukattai / Chana Dal Kozhukattai

Notes:

• Peanut is optional, you can skip that.
• After adding the jaggery, pulse your mixie, no need to grind it.
• You can make this stuffing ahead and use it whenever needed. 
• Once the kozhukattai is cooked, the outer layer looks shiny.

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Ellu Satham | Sesame Rice | Sesame Seed Rice

The fourth & last day of pongal is celebrated as "Kaanum Pongal".Kaanum means "Visit",on this day, people used to visit relatives house or any nearby tourist place.So usually they pack different types of  variety rice for their one day trip and now it's became  a habit in our home, whether we go out or not, the menu on that day would be different types of variety rice. So for this year kaanum pongal, i had prepared this  ellu satham along with coconut rice and curd rice.
When i finished cooking and started to click on kaanum pongal day, the sky was very cloudy and i couldn't get single decent picture, so few days back, again i prepared the same menu,just for blogging sake 😉  .This time, i included vadai & cabbage poriyal and we had a hearty meal.This rice is so easy to make yet it's so tasty & healthy.So even you can prepare this rice as lunch box recipe for your kids.

Ellu Satham/Sesame Rice

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Rice | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Cooked Rice - 11/2 cup
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Salt - to taste

To Roast & Grind
Sesame Seed - 1 tbsp(heaped)
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chili - 3
Sesame oil - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

Heat a pan with 1/4 tsp of sesame oil and then add the red chili & urad dal, roast till the urad dal turns golden brown color.Keep it aside.In the same pan, add the sesame seed and roast, once the seeds starts to pop, switch off the flame and continue roasting in the pan heat till nice aroma comes from it. Let it cool and then put in the mixie/blender jar along with chilies and urad dal and grind into coarse powder.Now heat 1 tsp of sesame oil in the pan and add the mustard,urad dal & curry leaves, let the  mustard splutter.Then add the grounded powder, give a good mix and switch off the flame.Now add the cooked rice & salt.Mix it gently without breaking the rice.
That's it, Tasty & aromatic Sesame Rice /Ellu Sadam is ready to serve.

Notes:

• I have used black sesame seed , but you can white one also.
• Sesame oil gives great flavor to the rice, so i highly recommend to use that.
• Once the sesame seed starts to pop, switch off the flame, otherwise there is a chance of burning the seeds.
• Adjust the red chilies according to your taste.
  

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Tahini | Home made Tahini

Today condiment recipe is Tahini from Middle East. Tahini is a paste made from the sesame seed. Mostly white sesame seed is used to make this, but in some place, black seed also use. It's the one of the key ingredients for making hummus.It hat lot of nutritional factors as wiki says

             "Tahini is an excellent source of copper, manganese and the amino acid methionine. Tahini is a source of the healthy fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6.It made from raw sesame seeds is lower in fat than tahini made from roasted seeds.Tahini's relatively high levels of calcium and protein make it a useful addition to vegetarian and vegan diets, as well as to raw food diets when eaten in its unroasted form. Compared to peanut butter, tahini has higher levels of fiber and calcium and lower levels of sugar and saturated fats".

Home made Tahini

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Makes : 1/4 cup 
Recipe Category: Sauce | Recipe Cuisine: Middle East

Ingredients

White Sesame Seed - 1/4 cup

Sesame oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure

Dry roast the sesame till it becomes golden brown.Let it cool.Put it in mixie, coarse it , then add oil & grind it to smooth paste.Add oil more or less according to the consistency of tahini you want.Homemade Tahini Paste is ready.

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