Indian festivals always hold some significance, and tomorrow’s festival Raksha bandhan, is a traditional Indian festival that is celebrated on the Shravan poornima (a full moon day), which mostly falls in the month of August. This festival is celebrated to strengthen the bond between brother and sister. On this auspicious day, brothers vow to protect their sisters and always be by their sisters’ side in all her troubles and sorrows. Sisters tie a sacred thread on the wrist of their brother which is said protect their brother from all things evil. You talk about any Indian festival, and the first thing that comes to mind is Mithaai, aka, sweets. We Indians start any happy occasion by eating sweets. So, tomorrow for the Raksha bandhan festival at home, I prepared Kaju katli as a sweet to celebrate this festivity.
Kaju katli- a sweet prepared by adding powdered cashews to a thick sugar water consistency and kneading it to a dough. Kaju katli is one of the most popular Indian sweets that is gifted to friends and family during the festive season. This sweet dish also has the added benefit of staying fresh (without going stale) for about 2-3 weeks!
The reason behind me preparing this sweet for tomorrow’s festival is that, my son Suhas doesn’t eat any other sweet except Kaju katli. He doesn’t eat any chocolates, sweets, pastries or ice-creams. In fact, it’s quite funny but the truth is, he doesn’t even taste his birthday cake. Surprised, huh? But it’s true. I don’t know why he never gets fascinated by any kind of dessert or chocolate, but surprisingly he likes this Kaju katli so much that he doesn’t mind eating 3-4 pieces of it every day. There was a time when I used to stock this sweet regularly at home, but then after a certain time I stopped as it’s not very healthy to eat sugary foods everyday. Tomorrow, as it is Raksha bandhan, I wanted to make his favorite sweet, that will be fed by both his sisters after tying the Rakhi on his wrist.
Kaju katli is a very easy and quick recipe, except that we should be precise regarding the sugar water consistency before adding powdered cashews to it. If you don’t get the consistency right then you may end up preparing something other than kaju katli :’) But I’m happy that mine turned out so well that I couldn’t stop my self from sharing this recipe with y’all! The thin, soft, buttery goodness of cashews just melts in your mouth in the blink of an eye. The richness of cashews with the spun sugar and the added flavors of cardamom is just a burst of sugary delight in your mouth.
You can also check my Mango kalakand recipe here:
Kaju katli recipe:
Powder the cashews in a coffee grinder or dry grinder. Don’t grind it till the oil or moisture leaves it. It should be dry and powdery in texture. Measure it and keep it aside. Measuring is very important for this recipe, as it helps in adding the perfect amount of sugar needed. I added 1 1/2 cups of sugar to 3 cups of powdered cashews, which gave me approximately 900gm of kaju katli that is about 35-40 pieces of it.
Take a thick non-stick pan or kadai, and add little water and sugar to it. Let it simmer on low heat till it forms a thick consistency of 1-2 strings. Add in some powdered cardamoms to it.
To check the string consistency, take a little bit of the sugar mix (careful with the heat) and spread it between your fingers. When it is almost at a two string consistency, add the powdered cashews and ghee. Keep on stirring it well, till it forms a dough and turn the heat off.
Let this mixture cool down for a while.
Grease a plate or base where you want to knead the dough. Once the dough is cool enough to handle, grease your palms and take the dough in your hand and place it on the plate or base, kneading it gently using the rolling pin.
Let it cool down completely for 10-15 minutes and then cut it into the shape of diamonds. Transfer them into an air tight container to store or serve directly to have it straight away. Enjoy this delicious platter of sugary goodness that will serve as the perfect sweet for this festive season! 🙂
