Kaju katli | Kaju barfi
Kaju katli / Kaju barfi - the most popular & delicious Indian mithai made with cashew nuts, sugar and ghee.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashew nuts
- ⅓ cup water
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tsp ghee
- Cardamom powder (optional)
Instructions
- Finely grind cashews in a blender. Grind it in the pulse mode a few times with intervals as over blending or blending for a long time might make the cashews to release oil. The cashews must be at room temperature. If you have refrigerated the cashews, allow it to cool down to room temperature or dry roast in a hot pan for just a few seconds ( 15 to 20 seconds ).
- If you want to be sure you can sieve through the cashew powder. While sieving it you have to press with the back of a spoon to pass it through the sieve. I personally feel sieving this is too time consuming. So I just make sure to scrape the sides of the blender and pulse it several times with intervals and just check it with the fingers.
- In a pan, preferably non-stick take ⅓ cup of water and ½ cup of sugar and bring it to boil. Boil it till the sugar is completely dissolved. No string consistency is required.
- Once the sugar is dissolved add the cashew powder and keep stirring.
- Cook the cashew powder in sugar syrup till the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan.
- Switch off the stove, add two teaspoons of ghee and stir vigorously for 30 to 45 seconds. If adding, add cardamom powder now.
- Cool it till you can handle the heat. Take a small amount of the mixture and roll it between your thumb and index finger. It should form a ball without being sticky. This is the right consistency.
- Grease a bowl with ghee and shift the mixture into the bowl. You can even use a butter paper.
- Grease your hands with ghee and knead for a few minutes while the mixture is slightly hot. Kneading is very important as kneading thoroughly is the key to get soft textured kaju katlis. After kneading the dough should look smooth.
- With the help of a rolling pin roll the dough into a half inch sheet. All this should be done while the dough is warm or hot enough to handle. You should not let the dough to cool completely.
- Now cut into squares / diamonds and leave it to cool. Take the pieces after it has cooled completely.
- Kaju katli is ready !!