Lonavala is a hilly city located on the highway from Pune to Mumbai from 50 km away from Pune city. Traditionally, it is called Len Avali. This city is famous for Maganlal Chikki. Chikki means sweetened groundnut with jaggery. In Tamil Nadu, also, Kovilpatti is famous for its Chikki.
Let’s see the history of Maganlal and Chikki.
In 1888, Bhewrajji Agarwal had put up his shop in his son’s name, Maganlal. Initially, this shop started selling the gud-dani. (Pori urundai in Tamil, sweetened puffed rice balls in English). At the same time, the Mumbai to Thane rail line was extended till Lonavala. So Indian railway requested Bhewrajji to sell his Gud dani, inside the train, for travelers. Travelers liked the taste of this snack, but they were not able to pronounce Gud-dani easily. So the Railway department requested them to sell another healthy snack along with Guddani and asked them to give an easy name that is easily pronounced. So they used the ingredients groundnut, Ghee, and jiggery and prepared Chikki. Every traveler likes the taste of this sweet.
Later, this snack started preparing with Sesame, badam, and other nuts.