Kaju Katli /Kaju Roll /Cashew Barfi

Needless to say that Kaju Katli is one of the favorite sweets of India (probably after Gulab Jamun). I don't think I have met anyone who doesn't like Kaju Katli.

It is very commonly found in Indian sweet mart. Similar to Kaju Katli, they carry Kaju roll, Pista roll, Kesar (Saffron) roll, etc. and I love all of them equally :). The basic difference between Kaju Katli and Kaju Roll is the way it is shaped. Kaju Katli is diamond shaped thinly sliced while Kaju Roll is just rolled like a log.

Until I came across Kaju Katli recipe on one of the Facebook pages I follow, I thought it was very tedious to make and so they never made it at home in India. So I decided to give it a try and Voila! it was amazingly yummy! I followed a few recipes and came up with this...

Ingredients: 
Cashew nuts at room temp - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Cardamom - 2 pinches
Rose Essence - 1/4 tspn

Procedure: 

1. Boil water and sugar together till one string consistency
2. In the meantime, grind cashew nuts to a fine powder (make sure it is at room temperature otherwise it may turn into cashew butter :D)
3. Now check for one string consistency and if it has reached that consistency, then add powdered cashew nuts, cardamom and rose essence to it and mix well
4. Turn off the gas when the mixture is a little difficult to mix in
5. Let it cool a little bit (2-4 mins of cooling time) then grease your hand with ghee or butter and knead the mixture and roll it out and cut it in diamond shape or make it like log

Variations: 
You can add saffron or silver foil on top to make it look good.

Conclusion:
It is super easy to make and comes out much better than you get in stores here. I have no idea why we don't get this good kaju katli in stores in USA.