The Nagachaturthi Naivedyam

Sujatha Rajesh

Chimbli

Ingredients:

1. White Sesame Seeds (எள்) – 1 cup.
2. Ball Jaggery – 3/4th of a cup.
3. Milk – 2 to 3 drops.

Procedure:

• Grind the Sesame seeds coarsely without adding water. Keep it aside.
• Grind the broken Jaggery also coarsely.
• Remove it from the mixer-grinder. Mix the Jaggery powder and the Sesame powder together.
• Transfer this mixture to mixer-grinder jar. Add 2 to 3 drops of milk and grind for a second or two till they blend together.
• Make small balls out of this dough. Flatten the balls slightly to give them a good shape.
• The Jaggery and the Sesame powder can also be ground finely, to get a smooth texture. These Chiblis too taste equally good, like the balls made out of coarsely ground powder.
• The result of this sweet has a juicy and lustrous look. It is a kind of melt-in-mouth sweet. This is not the regular, Ellu Urundai.

Benefits

The Jaggery and the White Sesame mixture enhances the Calcium and the Haemoglobin levels in the body.

Few Words

This traditional sweet named Chimbli is made on Naga Chaturthi. This sweet is considered to please the Naga deities.

My husband, Rajesh Govindarajulu’s Grandmother, Lalita Bai and my Father-in-law, Govindarajulu were very fond of this sweet. They used to consume it regularly. Once when I asked my mother-in-law (G. Aravindakumari) the whereabouts of my father-in-law, she said he has gone to cut his thick nails which was an exceedingly difficult task. My mother-in-law funnily added it was due to the Chimblis that he has eaten.