Tuesday, March 26, 2013

a rose flavored sugar free kaju katli and a regular kaju katli...


Yes two ways with Kaju katli, the famous Cashew nut fudge that is the most loved mithai all over India.  Probably more so because it has a better shelf life than any other good mithai. Stays well for a month or so. And both these versions of kaju katli are microwave cooked.


I made this no sugar added version which has some lactose in the form of the milk powder I added to bind, this one is flavored with rose petals and rose water. Lactose sweetens the kaju katli lightly. Rose petals and rose water make this kaju katli quite fragrant.

 The other one is a regular sugary kaju katli but with less sugar than the commercially available ones, no flavor is used in this one because the flavor of Cashew needs to shine when it's on it's own.


 Lesser sugar means poor binding and darker color. Sugar binds the cashew paste really well and makes it lighter in color after cooking, but this dark looking kaju katli has great cashew taste, sweetening is medium to light I would say. For some people it will be light, to me it is perfect.

Even the milk powder and cashew version, is lightly sweetened, with a hint of milk too. I personally do not like milk or khoya burfi or fudge so this one would not be my favorites, but the husband likes this milky one better. Different choices you see.

ingredients for rose flavored, no added sugar kaju katli...



broken cashew nuts 4/5 cup or 87 gm (see the picture on weighing scale)
milk powder 3/4 cup or 66 gm
rose water 2 tbsp
full fat milk 1/4 cup
dried rose petals 1 tbsp or more

procedure...

Powder the cashew nuts finely, it might start getting lumpy and oily in the end so take care not to make it cashew butter. Just stop when the powder starts getting crumbly.

Add the weighed milk powder and about 1/4th cup milk and a tbsp of rosewater in a microwave safe glass bowl, mine was a Borosil one.


Mix everything well. The milk powder slowly dissolves and allows a sticky paste to be formed.

Now microwave for 1.30 minutes, the paste will fluff up in the microwave. Take out and stir and mix well again. See how it looks in stages. The mixture is microwaved for 1.30 minutes each time, taken out and stirred with a spoon. Repeated 3-4 times till the paste forms a ball.


Add the rose petals in last, mix well and let it cool till you can handle it with bare hands. It becomes very oily as the fats separate.

Keep a parchment paper ready folded like a book. Place the ball of cashew paste on one half of the parchment and cover with the other half. Roll out with the help of a rolling pin.


You would want a perfectly square or rectangular sheet of rolled out fudge so make sure you fold the parchment paper inwards from the open edges. See pictures to understand. Roll out the fudge to fill in the corners as well. The thickness should be the same all over.

Lift this rolled out fudge along with the parchment paper casing, place it on a appropriately sized tray and refrigerate till cold.

Measure with a scale if required and cut into squares or diamonds.


There is a hint of milk in this kaju katli, and that's where the rose saves it.
Rose flavored kaju katli with a hint of milk that you might miss if uninitiated.

ingredients for the regular kaju katli...

broken cashew nuts 2 cups or 220 gm
sugar 3/4 cup or 100 gm
you might want to add green cardamom or saffron, but I like it unadulterated cashew flavor

procedure....

This one is a cashew and sugar fudge, the regular kaju kali. Sugar helps in binding the paste and since I have used minimal sugar the texture is not very smooth. But taste wise it is a better version of a commercially made Kaju katli. A very intense taste of cashew just lightly sweetened.

The cashew nuts are soaked in water, just enough to cover them all, for 2 hours minimum.

Then they are blended till they make a smooth paste, add some of soaking water.


Now add the sugar and cook it in a thick base pan or in a wide glass bowl in microwave. If cooking in pan, keep stirring and cook till it becomes a sticky ball. If doing in microwave, take out and stir every 2 minutes for about 5 times and then every 1 minute 2-3 times.


Stirring and mixing each time you take the mixture out. It should make a sticky ball in the end, and when smoothened with the back of a spoon, it should get a smooth surface. See picture.


Let it cool till it can be handled with bare hands, Make a smooth ball place on a parchment paper covered with the other half and roll out into a rectangle.


Now on the rolling out steps will be like the rose flavored kaju katli. Refrigerate to cool and then cut into desired shapes.


A little darker, a little softer kaju katli that you would get in stores, but a lot tastier that that. And the bhang ki thandai in the picture is also coming soon on the blog..


Wishing you all a happy holi with a colorful post.


Do let me know which one you tried. The good thing is, you can cook them both in pan also. Do shoot me a question if you want to cook this in a pan, I'll let you know what to expect. It's easy any which way.

Cheers..

8 comments:

  1. rose flavored kaju katli.... wow... thats a cool combo. loved your flower shaped serving plate... there is a typo in the ingredients for regular kaju katli. it should be - you might want to add green cardamon or saffron :-)

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    1. Thanks Dassana for pointing out. Will edit to correct right now. Glad you liked it :-)

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  2. Can I use gulkand & some less fat milk ka malai which is kept in my refrigerator ? I would like to do in pan as I am sure,I will mess up while microwaving it ?

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    1. Yes gulkand can be used but adding malai would make the mixture ooze out copious amounts of ghee so use some skimmed milk instead.

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  3. Great recipe. I don't have rose petals. I want to try the second one. Pls. tell me how to make in kadhai. It is my kids'favorite so would love to make it in summer holidays. Also have you done besan laddoi recipe on the blog?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I have besan ka laddoo on this blog..here it is..
      http://www.banaraskakhana.com/2012/11/sankatmochan-wale-besan-ke-laddoo-and.html

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  4. Do you have nutritional info for this? That way I would know the calories I am consuming :).

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    Replies
    1. Rachna I don't count calories and don't think that is the right way way to follow a healthy eating pattern. Quality ingredients and avoiding sugar or minimal sugar is my way. Because you asked, the whole amount of kaju katli (the sugar one) has about 1700 calories, so calculate after dividing it by the number of kaju katlis you cut out.

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