Kaju Katli Recipe
Kaju Katli or Kaju Barfi is a delicious Indian sweet made with simple ingredients - cashew nuts, sugar, and water mainly. Here's an easy step by step recipe with tips for success.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashew nuts raw, unsalted, unroasted
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons ghee
- 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Ensure the 1 cup cashew nuts are completely dry before grinding. Place in a spice grinder and pulse at 3 second intervals 3-5 times.
- You should get uniformly powdered cashew nuts that are slightly moist (due to the natural oils in the nuts) and slightly coarse and crumbly
- Do this in smaller batches if needed, do not over crowd the grinder. Once all the cashew nuts are powdered proceed with making the sugar syrup
- Place 1/2 cup white sugar and 4 tablespoons water in a non-stick pan on medium heat
- Let the mixture boil and then keep stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved and you get a slightly thicker consistency of syrup that coats the back of your spatula (took me around 2-3 mins, so not too long)
- Add the powdered cashew nuts and lower heat
- Keep stirring continuously for about 8-10 minutes or until the mixture bubbles up and turns into a thick mass that rolls around the spatula as you stir
- The mixture may look a bit coarse due to the powdered cashew nuts, do not worry about that
- When the mixture starts rolling around and becomes hard to keep stirring, transfer to a plate and add 1 teaspoon ghee
- Let it cool down to a point where you can handle the mixture with your fingertips
- Knead gently, adding more ghee if you need, mixing in all the crusty and dry parts for about 2 minutes
- Do not exert too much pressure when kneading, katlis don’t need the same powerful kneading like rotis do
- You should soon have a very smooth dough that’s still warm
- Place between two sheets of greasing paper and roll into a circle or square that’s about 1/4″ thick
- When still warm, scour with a sharp knife into diamond-shapes
- When completely cool, separate the pieces and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator
- Kaju Katli keeps well for up to 4 days, we have never had them last beyond that
Notes
- If the cashew nut mixture feels too sticky and soft, put it back in the pan and cook for another minute or two on low heat
- If the mixture feels too dry or crumbly, add 1-2 teaspoons of milk as you knead it
- Add milk only if needed. If the mixture is moist and you are able to knead it easily, avoid the milk
- Do not scrape the sides of the pan too much once the mixture starts to thicken, the sugar will crystallise and form hard crusts along the edge of the pan and we don’t want this to be in the kaju katli
- The edible silver pieces or vark can be purchased in store and added on if you would like that store-bought look. Personally I don't like them and request for "without silver" when I buy kaju katli in stores too
- I found this amount of sugar to be quite high, the kaju barfis were quite sheet. Next time, I’d experiment with a lesser amount but I am not sure how that would affect the overall texture. Will update here when I have tried it