Kaji Katli(Kaju Barfi) is a popular North Indian sweet made with cashew nuts, sugar, and cardamom powder, and the homemade ones taste so much better than the store-bought ones. Kaju means “Cashews” and katli means “slice”. Kaju Katli is a rich traditional sweet with a smooth melt-in-mouth texture and is one of the most gifted and celebrated sweets during the festive season especially Diwali. It is a sweet loved by all including kids and is a perfect treat to spread joy on any occasion, celebrations, and for gifting.

The Traditional way of making kaju katli requires a sugar syrup of one-string consistency to which cashew powder/paste is added and cooked. Today, I will be sharing an easier version of preparing kaju katli for beginners with no sugar-syrup consistency. The Homemade version is better in taste as it’s made with good quality cashews and no added preservatives which makes this sweet even more delicious and addictive than the store-bought ones.

HERE IS OUR RECIPE VIDEO OF KAJU KATLI TO WATCH!

HERE IS THE PRINTABLE VERSION  OF THE  RECIPE!

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Kaju Katli

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 25

Kaji Katli(Kaju Barfi) is a popular North Indian sweet made with cashew nuts, sugar, and cardamom powder, and the homemade ones taste so much better than the store-bought ones

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cashew nuts
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 tsp Ghee
• 1/4th tsp Cardamom powder
• Silver warq (optional)

Instructions 

Grinding Cashews

• Use Good quality big-size cashews.

  Place the cashews in a spice/small grinder. Grind small amounts of cashew at one time. Pulse or blend to make a powder. Do not blend at a stretch for a long time as the cashews will release oil and the mixture will become lumpy. Pulse small amounts of cashews in the grinder to get a fine powder.
• Sieve the cashew powder. Add back the coarse grains in a blender, grind, and sieve again. The cashew powder will be slightly grainy and not like fine flour.
• The remaining coarse grains left in the siever can be stored and used later in gravies etc. Check the recipe video for visual details.

Preparing Sugar syrup

• In a non-stick pan, add sugar and water and cook on medium heat for 5-6mins. Once the sugar melts, boil for 1 min. Lower the flame.

Making Kaju Katli mixture

• Lower the flame of the sugar syrup and add the cashew powder. Combine and cook on low flame. Stir continuously till you get a smooth lump-free mixture.
• Add ghee and combine well. Ghee gives a smooth and shiny texture to the Kaju katli.
• Keep cooking and stirring the mixture on a low flame. After 10-12 mins, the mixture will leave the sides of the pan.

Testing the mixture

• Once the mixture leaves the pan, switch off the flame and keep aside. The mixture will be of medium consistency.
• Take 1/2 tsp mixture on a plate, let it cool down a bit. Grease your fingers and make a ball out of it. You will get a non-sticky dry soft ball out of it. This means the cashew mixture is ready to set.
• If you don't get a dry non-sticky ball, this means your Kaju katli mixture is undercooked. Cook on low heat for a few mins more.

Preparing and setting Kaju katli

• Quickly, pour the mixture into a greased butter paper or steel plate. Let it cool for 2 mins.
• With the help of a spatula, fold the mixture till it slightly cools down and becomes thicker.
• As the mixture is still warm, fold the dough with the help of butter paper instead of hands. Fold the dough till it becomes smooth and forms a soft dough. Folding gives the Kaju katli a smooth creamy and mouth-melting texture. A Smooth, non-sticky and soft dough will be ready.
• Place another sheet of baking paper on top of the dough. Quickly, roll to 1/2 inch thick using a rolling pin applying equal pressure on all sides. once rolled, take out the butter paper.
• Once rolled, apply silver warq and cool completely. Cut into diamond shapes by first cutting the dough vertically and then horizontally using a sharp knife. Separate the Kaju katli.
• Store Kaju katli in an air tight container. They will be fresh at room temperature for 5-7 days.
• Enjoy!

Notes

1. Use premium quality unsalted big-size cashews. Ensure they are bright in colour, fresh and crunchy in taste and flavour. Avoid cashews that smell or taste stale.
2. Fresh and crunchy cashews will easily grind into a fine powder.
3. Use a spice or a small grinder to grind the cashews. Grind the cashews in batches.
4. Pulse and grind for a short time of 25 seconds. Scrape the sides and pulse again till you get a smooth fine powder. The texture of the cashew powder will be slightly grainy and not like fine flour.
5. Over grinding the cashews will release the oil and give a lumpy texture to the powder. 
6. Sieving the cashew powder is very important. Don't miss this step. It will make the cashew powder light, lump-free and uniform which will give a smooth texture to Kaju katlis.
7. I sieved the cashew powder 2 times. I blended the remaining coarse cashew powder and sieved again.
8. Use a heavy wide non-stick pan.
9. Sugar syrup needs to have a boil before you put cashew powder.
10. Cook the mixture on low heat and stir continuously.
11. Cook the cashew mixture till it leaves the pan. It will take around 10-12 mins.
12. Adding ghee to the mixture makes the mixture smooth and shiny and adds a great flavour.
13. Testing the mixture before setting it - Take 1/2 tsp mixture on a plate, let it cool down a bit. Grease your fingers and make a ball out of it. You will get a non-sticky dry soft ball out of it. This means the cashew mixture is ready to set.
14. Use baking paper to roll and fold the dough.
15. Knead the dough by folding with baking paper as the mixture is warm and can burn your hands.
16. Roll immediately after you have a smooth dough. Roll between two baking papers. It will be difficult to roll once the dough dries.
17. Store Kaju katli in an air-tight container. They will be fresh at room temperature for 5-7 days.

Course: festival sweets, Indian sweets

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: 10 mins sweets, 15 mins recipe, cashew fudge, dessert, diwali recipes, diwali sweets, dry fruit sweets, festival sweets, holi sweets, indian sweets, kaju barfi, kaju katli, popular indian sweets, Rakhi sweets, sweet recipes, vegan

Besan Ki Barfi is s a traditional festive delight and the most popular North Indian sweet enjoyed throughout the year.  Besan ki barfi is a gram flour fudge made with besan, sugar, ghee and, cardamom powder. This delicious mouth-melting sweet is prepared on festivals, occasions, celebrations and enjoyed by everyone including kids. I will be giving a twist to this recipe and will be cooking the besan in milk which will give these barfis a richer, moist, daanedar texture, and delicious taste.

HERE IS OUR RECIPE VIDEO OF BESAN MILK BARFI TO WATCH!

HERE IS THE PRINTABLE VERSION  OF THE  RECIPE!

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Besan Milk Barfi

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 20

Besan Ki Barfi is s a traditional festive delight and the most popular North Indian sweet enjoyed throughout the year.  Besan ki barfi is a gram flour fudge made with besan, sugar, ghee and, cardamom powder.

Ingredients

• 200 grams Clarified butter (ghee)
• 500 grams Besan (gram flour)
• 1/4th tsp Turmeric powder
• 300 ml Hot boiled milk
• 2 tbsp Saffron Milk

One String Consistency Sugar Syrup

• 500 grams Sugar
• 250 ml Water
• 1 tsp Cardamom Powder

Instructions 

Roasting Besan

• Take a heavy bottom wide pan. Add ghee and heat on medium flame.

  once the ghee melts, put besan and roast for 25 mins on medium flame.
• Stir continuously on medium flame to avoid besan burning from bottom.
• After 25 mins, besan absorbs all the ghee and becomes lighter & softer.
• Keep roasting for 15 mins more on medium flame and stir continuously non-stop.
• After 15 mins, of constant stirring and roasting, Besan changes deep golden in colour, smells aromatic and releases ghee and besan mixture thins down gradually.
• Once the besan is roasted nicely, add turmeric powder and combine.

  Turmeric powder gives a nice colour to the barfi.
• Don't roast the besan further as it will become darker brown in colour and will give a bitter taste.
• Roasting the besan took 40 mins on medium flame.
• Add hot milk in intervals and keep combining and stir continuously on high flame for 5 mins.
• Besan absorbs all the milk. Now add saffron milk(7strands of saffron soaked in hot milk for 5mins) and combine.
• Adding milk gives barfi a daanedar and moist texture and a rich delicious taste to barfi.
• Besan has absorbed all the milk and daanedar texture. keep it aside.

One String Consistency Sugar Syrup

• In a pan pour water and sugar. Stir well and dissolve the sugar completely on a high flame.
• Once it starts bubbling and boiling, add cardamom powder and combine.
• Let it cook for a few mins until it reaches one-string consistency.
• It took 10 mins to get a one-string consistency.
• Lower the flame to check one-string consistency. Take 2 tbsp sugar syrup in a bowl and cool it. Now, take a few drops of sugar syrup between your thumb and forefinger. Separate the fingers gently and you should see a long string. Turn off the heat when you see this consistency.

Setting the Besan Barfi

• Grease an 8-inch rectangle/square tray with ghee lined with baking paper.
• Roast the besan again for 2 mins on medium flame so that it releases ghee.
• Add hot sugar syrup and combine and cook on high flame. Stir continuously.
• The texture of besan becomes soft and fluffy and starts leaving the pan.
• Once the mixture starts leaving the pan, don't cook further. Besan mixture is ready to set.
• Pour the besan milk mixture immediately on the greased tray and level it.
• Put warq for decoration and garnish with almond & pista slivers.
• Leave and set it for 6 hours at room temperature.
• Once set, slice it into squares.
• Delicious, rich, moist, and melt-in-mouth barfis are ready.

Notes

1. Besan should be roasted well on medium flame till it has a deep golden brown colour. It should not have a raw taste.
2. Stir continuously while roasting besan to avoid burning from the bottom. Once the besan is roasted, don't roast it further as it will turn darker brown in colour and will give a bitter taste.
3. I have added turmeric powder to the besan mixture to give it a nice colour. There will be no taste of turmeric as it will be roasted in besan. It is totally optional if you don't want to put it.
4. Sugar syrup has to be of strong one-string consistency. A thin one-string consistency will not set the barfi. Usually, it takes 10 mins to cook sugar syrup to get this consistency.
5. Lower the flame to check one-string consistency. Take 2 tbsp sugar syrup in a bowl and cool it. Now, take a few drops of sugar syrup between your thumb and forefinger. Separate the fingers gently and you should see a long string. Turn off the heat when you see this consistency. If you don't get this consistency, then cook the sugar syrup for 1 min more and check accordingly.
6. Roast the besan and make it warm before adding hot sugar syrup to the besan mixture.
7. Store the barfis in an air-tight container.
8. Besan milk barfi takes more time to set in comparison to the normal besan barfi.
9. Barfis will stay fresh for 4 days at room temperature and after 4 days refrigerate it as the barfi contains milk. Consume the barfis within 2 weeks.

Course: Indian sweets

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: besan barfi, besan milk barfi, besan sweets, diwali recipes, diwali sweets, festival recipes, festival sweets, holi recipes, holi sweets, indian sweets, Rakhi sweets, Rakshabandhan sweets, sweet recipes