Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali. May this year brings you lots and lots of happiness in life and fulfill all your dreams.
Indians everywhere are celebrating Diwali today. Festivals in India, like everywhere else, mean a lot of food especially sweets. For Diwali, however, the variety of sweets whether made at home or sold in the shops, takes on a new high. The concept of sweets for Diwali has evolved so much so that chocolates are now considered acceptable.
Diwali is celebrated in different ways across India. Here in Goa, it is the just after the rains and delightfully cool and misty mornings prevail. With Diwali here, it is beautiful to see houses decorated with paper lanterns and twinkling lights. We went to sleep last night with the sounds of firecrackers in our ears. Early this morning hundreds of effigies of Narakasura would have been burnt signifying the triumph of good over evil.
For us, Diwali means a traditional cleansing bath, wearing new clothes and a leisurely and some what heavy breakfast. We distribute sweets and savouries to neighbours and friends and end up eating a lot of that ourselves!
Traditionally, we don’t light lamps for Diwali but for Karthigai. But we have lit oil lamps for Diwali, as well, ever since Akshaya was little and demanded our home also be lit up like all the others in the neighbourhood.
I have always made sweets at home for Diwali and I am a bit obsessive about this. This year I thought I’d make something different. Popular demand at home meant rava ladoos this time. I also made muthusaram ( traditional savoury munchies), some sandesh truffles ( modern take on a traditional Bengali sweet) and kaju katli (Indian cashewnut fudge)
I shall post those recipes eventually.
This is the first time I’ve made kaju katli. When one considers how easy it is to make this, I’m surprised that I never thought of making this before! One reason why I haven’t maybe because we get very good kaju katli in the sweet shops here. We also get excellent cashewnuts here so I made these diamond shaped katlis at home.
These came out well and Akshaya is especially happy that one of her favourite sweets now doesn’t require a trip to the sweet shop anymore!
If you are not familiar with this Indian sweet/ fudge, kaju katlis (kaju means cashewnut) are diamond shaped soft fudge/ marzipan-like confectionery usually decorated with “varak” (very finely beaten silver foil)
Kaju Katli - An Indian Cashewnut Fudge
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashewnuts broken
- 1/2 cup sugar granulated
- 4 tbsps water
- 3/4 tsp cardamom powdered
Instructions
- Grind the cashewnuts into a fine powder in your food processor. Make sure you don't process them too much, or the cashewnuts will become a paste. Keep aside.
- Put the sugar and water in a pan. Place on the stove, and over medium heat, keep stirring frequently, till the sugar dissolves and almost reaches a one-string syrup. Getting this stage f sugar syrup correct is what is critical in this recipe.
- Turn the heat down and add the cashewnut powder and the cardamom. Mix well and use your spoon/ ladle to break up any lumps which might form.
- Keep stirring the cashewnut-sugar mixture as it thickens. Soon you will notice a few bubbles slowly coming up, breaking and falling in on themselves, somewhat like hot bubbling mud!
- At this point, take the pan off the heat and allow the mixture to cool to a temperature where you can comfortably handle the "marzipan", which will be of "Play-Doh" consistency.
- If, by some chance, your mixture looks dry and crumbly just add a tsp or two of milk and stir well. It will attain the required consistency.
- Take the "marzipan" and knead it well for a couple of minutes, by hand, so that it is smooth and there are no cracks. Lightly grease your work surface (I used ghee/ browned butter) and your rolling pin. You can also do this on a sheet of aluminium foil.
- Roll the "marzipan" evenly till 1/4" thick. Using a sharp knife (or pizza cutter) cut into small diamond shaped pieces. Transfer the cashewnut diamonds to a cookie sheet and allow to dry out for about half an hour.
- Knead the scraps, roll out again and cut till all the "marzipan" is used up.
- This recipe makes about 20 pieces depending on the size of your diamonds.
- Since Mansi is celebrating sweets this month, I'm sending these to her. I would also like to thank all of you who joined Meeta and me at the Monthly Mingle-High Tea and made it a grand party. There will be a slight delay in the round-up.
♥♥♥Ria♥♥♥ says
Happy Diwali!!! 🙂 Remeber my mysore pak incident with you? LOL! I actually wanted to make it again this time and post it for Diwali , but my current hectic schedule just din’t let that happen!Have a safe trip and have a good vacation!Kaju Katli looks PERFECT! You must be really good with that one string stage to get such perfect consistency! Good job!!
sra says
Happy Deepavali to you all! That’s a lovely photo!
Divya Kudua says
Kaju katli looks perfect adorned with those cute diyas..:).I dream of making it someday..!!
Srivalli says
Lovely picture, kaju katli looks great!
Sonu says
Happy Diwali to you & your family!Kaju Katli & presentation is just good. 🙂
Priya Suresh says
Gorgeous kaju katli Aparna..Happy diwali wishes to u and ur family..
Cilantro says
Wish you and your family a very Happy Deepavali!
Asha @ FSK says
hmmm… kaju katli…its my all time favorite Indian sweet :))) the only one really :))))Wish you and your family a fantastic Diwali and an awesome year ahead!
TBC says
Happy Diwali to you and your family, Aparna.
Lauren says
These sound absolutely delicious =D. Happy Diwali!
The Cooking Ninja says
Is this very sweet? If it is, is it possible for me to make one with less sugar than required. I would love to make this dessert but I don’t like dessert that are too sweet.
Cham says
Happy Deepavali Archana!
Aparna says
Thank you for all the Diwali wishes.Actually, I think you remember that incident more than I do! :)Thanks.I have the one-string consistency pretty good, because a lot of Indian sweets require that stage.Thank you, Sra.Pam, its not very sweet, so do try them. I don’t like things that are too sweet myself.Thanks, Cham. I think you got me mixed up with someone else. :)You needn’t dream, its easy to make, Divya.
Clumbsy Cookie says
I loooooooooooove cashwes!!! And cardamom, so this must be a delight!
Cynthia says
Hey Sweetie! Happy Diwali to you and the family!
Rachel says
Your kaji kathali is gorgeous! I’ve never been able to make barfi and I’ve always wished I could 🙂 You make me want to try one more time!
chakhlere says
Kaju katli look amazing and has come out perfect!!Happy diwali to you!!
Renu says
very nice recipe….very elaborate also. Will try it sometimes
Happy Cook says
Belated Deepavali greetings. Love the chashew fudge. I have not made indian sweets for atleast 2 years.Last time i made i ate almost everything , here hubby and daughter likes more bengali milk sweets.
jayasri says
Happy Diwali to you & your family, have a lovely time off, you kaju katli is looking too good.., my favourite
Natashya KitchenPuppies says
I hope you and your loved ones had a lovely holiday. The cashew fudge looks delicious!
Cakelaw says
This fudge looks amazing!
Mansi says
those diamonds look perfect Aparna! Happy Diwali to all of you, and thanks so much for sharing these with my event!:)
Aparna says
Thank you for all the festive wishes. I’mn sure your Diwali was good too.
vardhinis says
Hi! Happened to come across this recipe. I gave a try & it came out very nice. Thank you for the recipe.
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Thank You For sharing Info about Diwali.
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Swetha Meda says
How do we get the silver texture on the top?
Aparna says
Swetha, you have to use silver foil called “varq” on the top.