Kaju Katli

This particular sweet was made by my sister-in-law and shared with me. It was superb, and I just had to share this!!

The Kaju Katli has a distinctive look: pale in colour and diamond-shaped. It is a sweet savoured all across India, and is also part of most gifts given during festivals.

The recipie is rather straight-forward. I never would have guess it to be so easy!!

Ingredients:
2 cups cashewnuts
1cup sugar
40%of a cup water

Method:

• Grind the cashewnut into a fine powder and set aside
• Mix the sugar and water and set on medium fame to form single-string consistency.
• Once done, take off the flame and mix the cashewnut thoroughly to remove any lumps
• Set aside for 15 minutes
• Gease a plate with some ghee and spread the mix.
• Set aside for 30 mins, and then cut into the diamond shapes.

This sweet is light, and very healthy too!

Carrot Kura

Normally we make carrot kura at home. This is a simple and healthy vegetable, especially since we do not use too much oil in them.

Ingredients:
3 large carrots
1/2 fresh coconut, desiccated
1 tsp salt
a pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder

Tadka
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1tsp urad dal
1 red chilli

Method:

• Scrape the carrots and chop into very fine pieces
• In a wok, heat the carrots, water to submerge the carrot pieces, salt and turmeric.
• Place a lid on the wok, and cook till all water dries up.
• Gently check if the carrot pieces are done. Be careful not the mash the pieces.
• Once all water has dried up, add chilli powder and cook on open flame for 5 minutes.
• Take off the gas, and prepare tadka.
• Once the tadka starts popping, add to the vegetable, and put the vegetable back to cook for a couple of minutes. This will help the vegetable to absorb the minimal oil from the tadka.
• Add the desiccated coconut and cook for 5 minutes or till the coconut dries and coats the carrot pieces.

Serve hot with rice or chapati.

Cashewnut Burfi (Jeedipappu Burfi)

Recently we had been to Chickpet in Bangalore to show my father-in-law that part of the city. We happened to turn into a lane that had wholesame condiment & grocery shops. Here we came by a shop which sold only dry fruits.

This places had every kind of dry fruit, and varieties both local and from around the world. When it came to cashew nut, the guy sold 3 types of nut: tiny bit pieces (called nooka), broken pieces mostly halves (called badda), whole cashews.

On seeing the nooka, which is not available in shops normally, my father-in-law remembered a recipie for burfi.

This burfi too has a history:

We hail from Vetapalem in AP. This places is best known for 2 things: cashew nuts, and telugu literature. The cashew nuts are mostly exported, and not found easily in shops because of the high quality. Whenever my husband’s grand-mother came visiting, she would bring the nooka from there, and my mother-in-law would prepare this sweet.

After reaching home, and a brief conversation with my mother-in-law which included details on how to make the burfi, I was set to make this. A small credit goes to my husband here for telling me how to gauge the thickness of the sugar syrup. 🙂

Ingredients:

3 cups cashewnut nooka

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

Method:

• Add water to the sugar and set on a medium flame. Stir intermittently.
• Keep cooking till it reaches single-string consistency.

• A simple way to figure this out is to put a drop is a small bowl of water. If the drop remains a blob that can be moulded with your fingers while in the water, then the syrup is ready. Longer, and the sugar will become hard.

• Take off the flame and add the cashewnut nooka while stirring constantly.
• Grease a plate with ghee, and spread the hot cashewnut mixture into an even layer.
• When partially cooled, cut into burfi shapes and leave to cool completely.

Store in an air-tight container.