Green Tea Sesame Seed Bars

Do you take your kids for groceries shopping along with you? Well we do It happens that both my toddlers love to go for grocery shopping so we make it a family thing and all four of us do your weekly grocery shopping together. For those of you who have done it I am sure grocery shopping with young children is often a big challenge.

My kids love to ride the shopping cart or jump out help mummy and papa pick stuff of the shelves. It’s more an attraction for them rather than getting the job done. Sometimes they pick up things that we don’t need at all..like cat food. The culprit is actually adhya my 3year old who loves to take anything that she can lay her hands on..and when I say no we don’t need that ..with all her teeth showing out and head tilting towards a side she says “ please mama please :) :) can I have this !”Its breaks your heart to say no to such a  face but a rule is a rule! My 1 ½ year keeps copying his sister or what he enjoys most  is to  stick his head into the frozen foods isle..his way to beat the heat I guess! Well most of the things they pick up we put them back without a meltdown it’s easier to dodge a 3 and 1 ½ year old but adhya is becoming smarter by the day so we try to explain it to her most of the times or we resort to bribery, negotiations, and sometimes threats if necessary. One of them usually works.

At the end of it we do give adhya a choice to pick some snack, we do honour her choice but if its chocolate it’s a “NO” and she knows that so this once she picked up these green tea sesame bars. They were just yum….it was not that sweet and it had a refreshing green tea flavour and crunchy sesame seeds and nuts. It tasted like the sesame seeds chikki (ellu unda) with a twist. We do get sesame seeds chikki and peanut chikki from Mustafa or any of the Indian stores in Singapore but they are mostly stale. So one day I decided to come up with my own recipe for these green tea flavoured sesame seed and nuts bar and instead of using white sugar I used jaggery. I have experimented this a few times as the caramelization of jaggery is quite critical and I have failed more than once however I have now perfected the recipe. Green tea sesame bars has become the most favourite snack in our house and nobody can stop with just one. I have used green tea with matcha you can you regular green powder also If you don’t prefer green tea you can always add any other flavour you prefer and if you can risk scorching your hands you can shape them into balls (till ladus) also ….So go and make some green tea sesame seeds and nuts bars or personalize the recipe to suit your taste buds..I am sure you will enjoy it!

To sum it all shopping with small children is an inevitability that every parent has to experience and the kids not only enjoy the shopping but learn a few rules too! As my husband would always say buy if you need it and never on impulse. So you see, shopping with kids can be done. All it takes is a little planning, determination, and resolve. And who knows sometimes your kid can introduce you to a new snack and inspire you to come up with your own recipe for it !!

Green Tea Sesame Seed Bars Recipe :

Notes:

• Keep stirring the jaggery take care not to burn it as it would taste bitter if burnt
• For this recipe keep everything ready before you begin caramelization as you would not have the time to fetch for things and you would end up burning the jaggery .
• The bars can stay upto a week at room temperature in an airtight container.
• You can use a mixture of nuts that you prefer or even use only one kind of sesame seeds you can always personalize and obtain the same results if you stick to the measurements given in the recipe.