Also be sure to try out more traditional but vegan Indian sweets, including vegan gulab jamun, vegan kheer and vegan badam katli. With Diwali knocking at the door, take a few minutes to cook up one of the season’s most popular sweets: a divinely vegan kaju katli. This is one of the easiest Indian vegan sweets you can put together and it needs just four ingredients, including the star ingredient, cashews (kaju). It takes mere minutes to make, and it is almost foolproof.
What is kaju katli?
Kaju katli (translation “slice of cashew”) is sometimes described as a “cashew fudge.” But even if you love fudge, a kaju katli is so much more. This distinctively diamond-shaped Indian sweet, often coated with silver foil, is slimmer than fudge, has a delicate mouth feel and a firm bite. It is addictively scented with cardamom, as so many Indian sweets are. Eat one and it is impossible to stop!
Why you will love this vegan kaju katli recipe
Truly delicious. A kaju katli is a simple combination of sugar, cashews and cardamom but it is truly a thing of beauty. The cashews play beautifully with the cardamom and saffron, creating a unique, gorgeous flavor that’s hard to forget. Easy recipe. You will find all sorts of recipes for kaju katli around the web, but I’ve condensed all the wisdom down into an extremely simple, doable recipe that you can ace. Soy-free and gluten-free. Unfortunately this cannot be a nut-free recipe, but it is suitable for most other diets.
Ingredients
Raw cashews. Since cashews, or kaju, are the star ingredient here, they are indispensable. You will need to grind the cashews very fine in a blender or food processor. Corn starch or tapioca starch. You need just a little bit of corn starch to help the cashews grind into a powder without glomming into a paste. Still, be careful not to overprocess the cashews. Sugar. You can start out with any granulated sugar but keep in mind that using an unrefined sugar will make the katli brown, veering away from its traditional, ivory-white color. Green cardamom or ground cardamom. You can powder green cardamom seeds yourself, which will always give you the best flavor, or use ground cardamom from a jar. Saffron. I love the warmth of saffron in kaju katli but you can skip it.
Storage instructions
At room temperature: You can store the kaju katli at room temperature in an airtight jar for up to a week. Refrigerate: Store the vegan kaju katli in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month.
More yummy vegan Indian sweets
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Place the sugar syrup ingredients – sugar and water – in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then add the ground cardamom and saffron. Continue boiling five more minutes until the syrup reaches 225 degrees Fahrenheit/110 degrees Celsius.
