To the Sukhdi obsessed me this Kang Sukhdi is new favourite, an absolute one!! Kang or foxtail millet is the most protein rich millet. Kang for those who haven’t heard much about is also the most widely cultivated millet after Bajra/Pearl Millet. It is an important crop for the Asian countries. The advent of wheat and rice as mainstream grains have changed our perception and approach towards the millets. Millets are ancient grains capable to grow in drought like conditions, requiring no fertilisers or pesticides. They are also an answer to many climate change issues that the agrarian communities face. In a nutshell, millets are earth friendly and pocket friendly grains with loads of nourishing properties. Unfortunately, the wheat eaters that we have become we have started looking at millets as foods that rural communities or poor eat. Or the grains that the elderly in our families ate!! Millets have been reduced to just winter foods when Bajra and Jowar Rotla/flatbreads make an occasional appearance on our plates. Other than that we have began looking at millets as forbidden grains rather grains that have nourished our ancestors!!
I simply adore sukhdi, it is a Gujarati take on energy bar, as kids we have grown up eating these bars as an anytime snack. It continues to answer the roll call in our snack rack even today!! To me even a flawed Sukhdi is hard to resist. Are you thinking, how can Sukhdi go wrong?? It can when you make it by cooking jaggery and ghee and you take jaggery a bit too further it is here that Sukhdi has potential of becoming chewy and toffee like. This is a kind of Sukhdi you want to keep chewing like toffee. But it is difficult to go wrong if you add the jaggery at the end of the cook once the flame is turned off. The jaggery will melt slowly and turn the consistency gooey and fudgy. And this Kang Sukhdi turns just that almost melt in mouth, it literally triumphs in taste and texture. Kang comes in quite a few varieties and I had access to lightly yellow coloured grain whose flour was pale brown in colour that mixed with whole wheat flour and organic jaggery give it this beautiful light brown colour.
I have not got into the details of why Sukhdi is such a revered food item in Gujarat, you can learn more about its goodness here
Kang Sukhdi - Foxtail Millet Fudge
Ingredients
- 1 cup kang no lot/foxtail millet flour, fine ground
- 1/4 cup atta/ whole wheat flour, fine ground
- 3/4 cup ghee, start with 1/2 cup add more if required
- 3/4 cup jaggery, grated or finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 2-3 tablespoons almond slivers
Instructions
Grease a small thali or pan on which the sukhdi will be spread.
Place a heavy bottom Karahi/wok on a low flame.
Add ghee and allow it to melt and heat up.
Once the ghee has melted add both the flours and roast them well.
Roast the flour mix well in the ghee until the flour begins to emit a very pleasant aroma and turns a shade darker.
Remember to stir it constantly when you are roasting the flour mix or else the flours will burn.
You will come to know the flour is well roasted because it will begin to feel lighter when stirring.
Turn off the flame and add the jaggery, sesame seeds and nutmeg to the hot flour mix.
Mix very well.
Transfer the mix on the greased thali/pan while it is still hot.
Spread it evenly, sprinkle the slivered almonds and gently press them and cut in squares or diamonds while the sukhdi is still warm.
Transfer to a container once they cool completely.
Notes
You can alter the flavour combination by replace sesame seeds with 1 teaspoon lightly roasted and hand pounded fennel seeds and nutmeg powder to cardamon powder.
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