Kappalandi Mittai

 Ingredients

1. Peanuts(raw skin off) - 11/2 cup
2. Jaggery  - 1cup
3. Water - 1/2 cup

Method

1. Grease a parchment paper with few drops of ghee and spread well .
2. In  a pan  roast peanuts till  slight brown spots appear here and there (may take around  7 to 10  minutes)
3. Once it is slightly cooled, crush it using a mortar and pestle in batches (do not over crush them) and transfer to a bowl
4. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan melt jaggery and water till jaggery  is completely dissolved.
5. Strain and transfer to another saucepan to get rid off any impurities and continue heating in medium heat.
6. Now it is the very important stage of getting the right consistency( first it will turn one string consistency (when you take a bot of syrup between your thumb and index finger it will form a single thread), then 2 string consistency (when you take a bot of syrup between your thumb and index finger it will form two parallel threads), then soft ball stage (when you drop  the syrup in a bowl of water  you will be able to roll  to form a soft smooth ball), then the hard ball stage ( (when you drop  the syrup in a bowl of water  you will be able to roll  to form a hard smooth ball),and soft crack stage(when  you drop syrup in cold water it becomes  a pliable non brittle thread ).This is the right consistency .
7. Immediately put the crushed peanuts to the jaggery syrup at this stage.
8. Mix well and immediately transfer to the greased parchment paper and roll to a 1 cm thick sheet.
9. Immediately make marking with a knife to cut into square shapes.
10. After about 3 minutes you can cut them  into squares.
11. Allow them to cool completely  and transfer to an airtight box.

Notes

1. The consistency of the jaggery syrup is very important .After the 2 string consistency each stage occurs at an interval of about 1 minute. So you have to be really fast in the final stage.
2. If the consistency of the jaggery syrup is not correct , the final kappalandi mittai will be  "chewy" and not "cracky" when you bite.

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Cheers,

Asha