Kaju Katli
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
- 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.
- Fresh and crunchy cashews will easily grind into a fine powder.
- Use a spice or a small grinder to grind the cashews. Grind the cashews in batches.
- 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.
- Over grinding the cashews will release the oil and give a lumpy texture to the powder.
- 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.
- I sieved the cashew powder 2 times. I blended the remaining coarse cashew powder and sieved again.
- Use a heavy wide non-stick pan.
- Sugar syrup needs to have a boil before you put cashew powder.
- Cook the mixture on low heat and stir continuously.
- Cook the cashew mixture till it leaves the pan. It will take around 10-12 mins.
- Adding ghee to the mixture makes the mixture smooth and shiny and adds a great flavour.
- 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.
- Use baking paper to roll and fold the dough.
- Knead the dough by folding with baking paper as the mixture is warm and can burn your hands.
- Roll immediately after you have a smooth dough. Roll between two baking papers. It will be difficult to roll once the dough dries.
- Store Kaju katli in an air-tight container. They will be fresh at room temperature for 5-7 days.