Kaju Katli

Kaju Katli

My idea for a Halloween post just wasn’t working out. Good thing I have another holiday to cook for.

Happy Diwali!

Diwali is a major Indian holiday, a festival of light. There are lots of tasty dishes people make for Diwali, usually always vegetarian. And like all holidays, there are all sorts of appropriate sweets and desserts you can make. Here’s a really easy one, and you probably have all the ingredients you need already.

Kaju KatliI got the idea for this from Saffron Hut, so the base recipe comes from there. I added a pinch of salt to balance the sweet, as well as some cardamom because it’s not only delicious, but traditional.

Kaju Katli (cashew diamonds) is sort of a cross between marzipan and brittle. It has the sweet, chewy-ness of marzipan with the rich, creamy taste of brittle. A lot of times it’s decorated with some edible silver leaf, but I didn’t have any (nor do I have the faintest idea where to get some!). Instead I used cardamom pods, some pretty colored sugar, and a nice anise star.

It’s simple, quick, and delicious. A perfect way to celebrate Diwali, or just try out a new sweet treat!

Kaju Katli
Makes 20-30 Diamonds

1 Cup Cashews, raw and unsalted
4 Cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed (optional)
1 Pinch Salt
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Water

Grind the cashews into as fine a powder as you can. You can try your coffee grinder; shake it or rap it against the counter to keep the cashews from gumming up the blade. You can also try a blender, a food processor, or a mortar and pestle.

Ground Cashews

Mix cardamom powder, salt, and cashews together. Heat water and sugar in a pot until boiling. Add cashews and stir well with a rubber spatula. Cook for abut 5 minutes until the mixture thickens. You can tell it’s ready when it a dribble of it on a cool plate forms a soft ball.

Pour out the mixture onto lightly oiled aluminum foil. A lot of directions I read say you should let the mixture cool and then knead until glassy. The rill out to 1/4″ thick and slice into diamonds. I cooked mine a little too long, so it set up firmer than it should have. I just cut it after it cooled (instead of kneading it and rolling it out) and that worked fine, but I think the textured suffered a little.

Store in an airtight container in layers separated by parchment paper.

Have a great Diwali!

And pssst! I’ve won the 2008 VegNews Veggie Award for best blog of 2008! Thank you to everyone who voted for me. You can find me in the November edition of VegNews Magazine. Yippee!

Kaju Katli

55 comments

  1. Anu

    Congratulations on the award!

    Kaju katli looks very inviting :) Perfect click! Wonderful snaps :)

    I have posted my version of Kaju katli in my blog. Do visit my blog in ur free time. Would be happy to receive ur comments :)

  2. shali

    I also (like #47) had this come out sticky and gummy… delicious, but very gummy. What did I do wrong? I am a very experienced cook, and make many vegan desserts, but I’m not very familiar with candy making (cooking with sugar syrup). Kaju katli has long been one of my all-time favorite store-bought desserts, so this result was especially frustrating! I really want to master this as it would be great to know how to make this for friends and family! Are there any further hints you can provide to help me get the consistency right?

  3. kaydee

    I just made the kaju katli and had the same problem: it looked like it wasn’t going to harden. I added some flour (making it a little more dough-like) and let it cool in the pot before laying it out on the foil. it hardened up right away! try that :)

  4. Pingback: Friday Favorites :: Halloween 2008 Edition | Two Frog Home

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