Kaju Katli

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup Cashew Nuts (Kaju)

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Cardamom Powder

1/4 cup Water

Ghee, for greasing

Directions:

1. (If you are using frozen/cold cashew nuts, bring them to room temperature before grinding.) Transfer cashew nuts to the small jar of a mixer grinder and grind until smooth powder. Do not grind cashew nuts too much otherwise it will start to ooze oil and it makes powder sticky. If required, scrap the sides with spatula and pulse again.

2. Make sugar syrup by boiling sugar and water over medium flame in a deep pan while stirring continuously.

3. Stir and cook until syrup reaches 1-string consistency (click here to see photo) – when mixture starts to turn little sticky, take 2-3 drops of sugar syrup on plate and blow some air over it to cool, take syrup drop between your thumb and index finger and stretch it little, if single thread is formed, syrup is ready.

4. Reduce heat/flame to low and add cashew nut powder and cardamom powder.

5. Stir with spatula and mix properly.

6. Cook and mix continuously until mixture thickens and turns into a big single lump – it will take around 5-7 minutes to reach this stage.

7. Turn off the flame and let it cool for 3-4 minutes and grease the back side of thali with ghee in the mean time.

8. Transfer prepared mix over greased surface. Grease your palms with ghee and knead it for few minutes until it has smooth surface while it is still warm. If mixture turns dry, add few drops of milk and knead it to make it smooth.

9. Roll it out into 1/3 inch thick round shape using a rolling pin. You can also place butter paper over it to prevent dough sticking to rolling pin and easy roll out.

10. Cut it using knife into diamond shape pieces.

11. Let it cool for 3-4 minutes. Separate the pieces and enjoy your favorite Kaju Katli.

Tips and Variations:

• Make sure that cashew nuts are at room temperature before grinding.
• Add the cashew nut powder immediately after sugar syrup reaches the one string consistency. This will prevent Kaju Katli from turning the crumbly after cooking.
• If the mixture turns hard after cooking (in step-8), add few drops of milk and knead until smooth. If you add the milk, shelf life of kaju barfi will decrease and you need to store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator if you are not planning to consume it same day.
• Do not over cook the mixture after it turns thick (in step-6) otherwise kaju katli will turn hard once it cools down after rolling.
• If you are not good at testing the sugar syrup consistency then don’t worry! When syrup starts to turn sticky, add cashew nut powder and cook until mixture turns thick.
• To give it a tempting look, use silver vark (varakh) for garnishing.

Taste: Sweet with mild cardamom flavor

Serving Ideas: Serve this diamond shaped sweet with savory snacks like chivda, namak para, gathiya, farsi puri etc.