Recipe for Kaju Katli. Easy Kaju Katli made with powdered cashews. Beginners Kaju Katli recipe. With step by step pictures.
Kaju Katli is the most popular sweet throughout India. My son loves Kaju Katli and he calls it as the diamond sweet as its traditionally always cut in the shape of diamonds. It is truly one of the very easy desserts to make at home. There are very few ingredients in the recipe and if the measurements are followed correctly, the recipe comes fantastically well. Here is how to do Kaju Katli at home.
Be precise with the measurements I have used rice cups for measurements today. You can use standard measuring cups too. one rice cup is about 160 ml whereas one standard measuring cup is about 240 ml.
Grind cashews to a powder
Take about 2.5 cups of cashews and pulverize the cashews to a powder. Do not run all of the cashews at one time in the mixie / grinder. Do it in 2 or 3 batches. Pulse it several times. The cashews will start to ooze oil if ground for a long time. So a note of caution on that. Always grind nuts to a powder in small batches.
Sieve the ground cashews to get rid of any big chunks that may remain. Do not skip this step.
Measure
Now, Measure two cups of the ground powder. Set aside.
The little leftover cashew powder can be used to thicken curries, gravies etc..
Sugar Syrup
Measure half a cup of sugar and half a cup of water and add it to a pan. Simmer on a medium flame.
Add in a pinch of ground cardamom powder.
One string consistency
Simmer the mixture stirring once in a while till it reaches the one string consistency. Dip a wooden spatula in the sugar syrup. Take a little drop from the spatula with your forefinger and press the thumb and forefinger together and release gently. One string – one thread consistency is where a single thread is formed when the fore finger and the thumb is pulled apart gently without breaking. Switch off the flame when single thread consistency is arrived.
Immediately, add in the cashew powder and mix well to combine. Add in a teaspoon of ghee while mixing. Do not add a lot of ghee, else the final product will become too greasy.
The mixture will become one cohesive dough. Dump the dough on a wax / parchemnt paper.
Troubleshooting:
For some reason, the mixture is sandy and has not come to a dough consistency, add a tablespoon of water and stir the mixture on low flame for a minute. It should form a dough. Do not add too much water. Just a tablespoon will do.
Shaping
Try to pat the dough into a rough rectangle by pressing on top of the wax paper.
Place another layer of wax paper on top of the dough and start rolling into a thin sheet (about 1/8th of an inch).
Leave it to rest for about 20 minutes. Then cut the sheet of dough with a sharp knife. It might be sticky. A pizza cutter also works fine. The katli may look fudgy at the beginning. The kaju katli will slowly harden as it cools. Allow it to rest completely for an hour or two to firm up.
Allow it to completely cool down. Break the pieces and store it in an airtight container and consume it within a week.
- I have used rice cups for measurement. 1 rice cup = 160 ml
- 2 Cups Cashew Powder (see notes)
- ½ Cup Regular White Sugar
- ½ Cup Water
- pinch of ground cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon ghee
- Measure half a cup of sugar and half a cup of water and add it to a pan. Simmer on a medium flame.
- Add in a pinch of ground cardamom powder.
- Simmer the mixture stirring once in a while till it reaches the one string consistency. Switch off the flame when single thread consistency is arrived.
- Immediately, add in the cashew powder and mix well to combine. Add in a teaspoon of ghee while mixing.
- The mixture will become one cohesive dough. Dump the dough on a wax / parchemnt paper.
- Try to pat the dough into a rough rectangle by pressing on top of the wax paper.
- Place another layer of wax paper on top of the dough and start rolling into a thin sheet (about ⅛th of an inch).
- Leave it to rest for about 20 minutes. Then cut the sheet of dough with a sharp knife. It might be sticky.
- Allow it to completely cool down. Break the pieces and store it in an airtight container and consume it within a week.
Take about 2.5 cups of cashews and pulverize the cashews to a powder. Do nut run all of the cashews at one time in the mixie / grinder. Do it in 2 or 3 batches. Pulse it several times. The cashews will start to ooze oil if ground for a long time. So a note of caution on that.
Sieve the ground cashews to get rid of any big chunks that may remain.
Measure two cups of the ground powder. Set aside. The leftover cashew powder can be used to thicken curries, gravies etc..
Cashew oozes oil while am grinding so it’s tough to seive it then I just add some water to grind it like a paste and made kaju katli it become too soft shiny and greasiness…
Always grind nuts to a powder in small batches. If you grind too much, the heat will let the cashews leave oil.
Tried this jus now,came out perfect,thanx Suguna for your wonderful detailed recipe
Thank you Jincy!
Tried and Loved ! For the fussy 5 year old too. 🙂
Thanks Sharon. Glad you liked it!