Sesame Snaps (Tilgul)

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Tilgul: A sweet which is prepared in all Marathi households on the 14th of January which is Sakranti. As with most Indian festivals which are in one way or the other associated with the seasons of the year , Sakranti too has an association with the winter season. Sesame and jaggery the 2 main ingredients here both produce heat in the body and so this sweet is particularly made on this day. This is one festival when the colour black is also celebrated and people particularly buy and wear black clothes on Sankranti. There is so much to share about this festival thatI will need another entire post to go into all the details.

But if Sankranti is still a month away why have I posted this Tilgul recipe now instead of in January. Well there are 4 reasons: 1. I made these yesterday as a practice session before the actual festival. My mother does this when she is not too sure about how a particular sweet will turn out.(which in her case is not often). 2. I will be taking a break from blogging in January as I am going to India for a 3 week holiday. 3. i wanted to share a tilgul recipe before the festival, so even you can try your hand at it a little in advance. 4. The sesame snaps turned out so well that I am as usual very impatient to share them with you.

Some of you might wonder why I call them Sesame Snaps. Well I discovered this name when I came to the UK. I saw these Sesame Snaps in a store. They are very similar and do satisfy my cravings for tilgul.

I have to admit that I have not used Jaggery in these. I substituted it with Demerara Sugar which is a delicious replacement for Jaggery. The recipe is one of the quickest. By quick I mean you have to be really quick while following some of the steps.
What you need:
1 cup Roasted Sesame seeds,
1.5 cups Brown Sugar,(or jaggery)
1/4 teaspoon Ghee (clarified butter)
3 to 4 drops Lemon Juice
Procedure:
Before you actually start with the cooking part, you need to grease a a small round area (about 10 cm in diametre) of your kitchen platform with a little calrified butter. Also grease a rolling pin with some ghee. This prevents the hot mixture from sticking to the surface and the pin.
Now in a heavy bottom pan melt the ghee and add to that the sugar and the lemon juice.Keep the heat low.
Once the sugar has completely melted, add the sesame seeds and quickly mix it with the sugar. Do this as fast as you can.
Now pour out this mixture onto the greased are on your kitchen paltform and immediately begin rolling it out with the greased pin . Roll it as thin as you can. IMP: Do not touch the hot mixture with your hands as it will stick to your hand and will burn the skin. Just as a precaution grease your palms with ghee too.)
Now take a sharp knife or a pizza cutter and mark out the diamond shapes (the shape can be any of your choice). This has to be done before the mixture hardens completely. Once the mixture hardens break out the individual pieces.
Store these in an airtight container. They keep for weeks
You will make about 30 to 35 pieces