Delhiwale: Chikki and its cousins are here to make winters sticky sweet

It’s that time of the year when Mustafa sells trademark winter snacks like gajak, revri and chikki by the roadside

These days it’s the smog that heralds the Delhi winters. We are told that long ago, when the air was still clean, this shift in the season was detected by the appearance of chikki sellers on our mohalla streets.

Mustafa sells chikki, revri and gajak at his roadside stall in north Delhi’s Rithala. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT PHOTO)

It is said that the summer-time kulfi wallahs would take to selling the delicious peanut-jaggery delicacy that not only gives a sugar boost but also infuses comforting warmth.

The other day, we found young Mustafa with a treasure trove not only of chikkis but also its other cousins — revri and gajak, though we didn’t care for his piles of peanuts. Cars frequently stopped by his roadside stall in north Delhi’s Rithala. Customers swiftly stepped out and gazed upon the many options. Most would buy the chikki, of course, but quite a few of them also got laddus made of puffed rice. We had never tasted this thing before, and it was delicious.

Mustafa, who hails from Bareilly, said, “My chikki business lasts only for a few months... until Lohri (the festival).” The rest of the year, he sells fruits. The chikki seller sits on the road just outside Rithala station. The stretch has a few other similar stalls, each manned by a young man like our Mustafa.

Just as we started to dream of Mustafa’s family making fresh chikki every morning, he told us, “I get these from a factory nearby.” We were feeling a tad disappointed at this discovery until we tried the chikki — it was as tasty and addictive, just as we had imagined.