Peanut Candy balls- கடலை உருண்டை - Friendship 5 series - Step by step

         Next in "Childhood Memory "series, we have "Kadalai urundai" or peanut candy balls. This is a tricky sweet, if we miss the consistancy of the jaggery syrup, then we cannot shape them into balls.Still remember the days, when my mom's friend make these sweets and give us.It would taste great . So humble sweet to munch on.We can also grease a palte with ghee and spread the peanut mixture. When it is still warm, we can cut the chikkis into squares. Also we can , crush the peanuts and make chikkis. We can alternatively use sugar instead of jaggery to make chikkis.The ways are numerous for us to make chikkis using peanuts.

Preparation time : 1o minutes
Cooking time : 10 minutes
Yield : 10 (small)

Ingredients:
1.Roasted peanuts - 1 cup
2.Scraped jaggery - 1/2 cup
3.Cardamom pwdr - a pinch

Method:

* Roast the peanuts well. Medium sized peanuts works well for the peanut balls. Since I had jumbo peanuts, I have used it. If you want your peanut balls to be too sweet, add 1/4 cup more jaggery.

* Take jaggery  in a pan. Cover it with water. Don't add too much water, then syrup will take more time to cook. Let the syrup come to boil. Strain the jaggery syrup using a filter. Transfer the filtered syrup to the pan. Turn the flame to medium low. Now check for the conistancy often. Stop the flame , when the syrup reaches hard ball consistancy.

* If you are using a candy thermometer, then the reading should be,260 degree Farenhiet or 126 degree celcius. We can also check the consistancy, by dropping the syrup on a plate of water. We should be able to take the syrup out like a hard ball, as shown in picture.

* Now turn the flame to medium, add the roasted peanuts to the pan. Mix it well. Add the powdered cardamom to the pan.

* The peanuts should stick together . This will be helpfull for us to shape them into balls.When the mixture is still warm, grease your hands with ghee or water. Take small amount of mixture in hand and shape it into a ball. Do it quickly, to prevent the peanut mixture from drying out. Let the peanut balls cool for some time. Then store it in air tight container.

Notes:

* The jaggery syrup has to be of right consistancy, if not the peanuts cannot be shaped into balls.

* If the peanut mixture becomes cold, we can re heat in the stove and then shape it.

* Always strain the jaggery syrup to remove impurities.

* We can also toss the peanut balls to a plate with rice flour. This will make the balls to dry quickly, without sticking to the plate.

* We can store the peanut balls in air tight container for upto 10 days.

* The colour of the balls will depend on the colour of the jaggery used.

Linking this to "Friendship Five " series started by "Geetha Achal" and "Savitha Ramesh"