Kaju Pista Roll Recipe – Kaju Roll Recipe – Cashew Pista Roll

Kaju pista roll recipe with step by step. Kaju sweets are one of the costliest sweets in sweet stalls. No matter about its price or calories, we never say no to sweets made with cashews. Its our family favorite. So I used to make kaju katli for all the special occasions like birthday, anniversary. When I asked Raksha about her choice for Diwali sweets, her first reply was “Kaju Katli”. Then came gulab jamun, Badam halwa etc etc. So this morning, I made kaju katli for her, Kaju roll for my blog posting, kaju strawberry, kaju flower and kaju apple just for myself . Yes, I used the same cashew dough for all these varieties. 

Basically the ingredients & the method of cooking Kaju katli and Kaju roll are almost the same. Additionally, pista stuffing is to be made and rolled in cashew dough for Kaju pista roll. If you can make a perfect cashew dough, all these sweets can be made in no time. Making Kaju dough is not so difficult. Troubleshooting is also easy.This is a no-fail recipe. I am sure anyone can get it right. For variations, badam or dates can be used for the filling and prepared as Kaju badam roll or Kaju khajur roll. In general, Kaju roll is really a good alternative for Kaju katli or kaju burfi If you are bored with it.So try this easy, interesting sweet for Diwali and have a great celebration.

Generally kaju pista rolls are wrapped with silver varaq in sweet stalls. As i din’t have it, I just kept a colored dot and made a simple presentation by seeing the picture of Nestle Milk Maid Kaju roll recipe. It looked really attractive. Try this decoration if you don’t have silver varaq.Ok, Lets see how to prepare perfect Kaju roll recipe with step by step images along with some tips for trouble shooting.
Here is the picture of all the Kaju sweets I made for this Diwali.

Check out my Kaju katli recipe with video.

Kaju pista roll recipe

How to prepare kaju pista roll - Easy kaju sweets for diwali

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: 15

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 15 Minutes

Total time: 20 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Cashew nuts/Kaju - 1 cup Sugar - 1/2 cup Water - 1/4 cup Ghee - for greasing the hands Milk or water - 1 -2 tsp ( for troubleshooting) For pista dough Pista - 1/2 cup Powdered sugar - 1/4 cup Cardamom essence or rose water - few drops Water - as needed ( Use few drops)

HOW TO MAKE KAJU PISTA ROLL - METHOD

If you have kept the cashews in refrigerator, take it out and let it dry completely. Powder the dry cashews in a suitable mixer. For this, grind the cashews continuously for a minute till it becomes smooth powder. Do not grind for long time because cashews release oil and it becomes a paste. You can also grind it by using pulse option. i.e grind for few seconds, wipe the sides and repeat until it becomes a powder. Both the method works well. After grinding the powder, sieve with a wire mesh if needed. Keep the powder aside. In a kadai, heat sugar + water and melt it. Boil till it reaches one string consistency. String should be thin. To this, add the powdered cashews and mix well. It will become watery at first. Keep mixing in medium flame by staying nearby. The mixture will thicken and start to leave the sides of pan. At that time, simmer the flame completely. Take a pinch of cashew dough by greasing your fingers. Try to make a soft, smooth ball. If you are able to do it, cashew dough is done. Immediately transfer it to a greased plate. Using a spoon, just mix the cashew dough to turn thick and warm. Once its heat is enough to handle,  grease your hands with ghee and keep kneading for few minutes. It will turn soft, smooth like  a dough ball. For Making kaju katli : Place a  butter paper and keep the kneaded cashew dough over the butter paper. Cover it with another butter sheet and start rolling it with a rolling pin. Roll the thickness you desire. Now make diamond shapes and remove after its cool down. For making Kaju Pista roll : Cover the kneaded cashew dough with a dry cloth and set aside. Powder the pista to a smooth powder. Follow the method of making cashew powder. Do not grind for long time . To the pista powder, add powdered sugar, green food color, cardamom essence and mix it. Add few drops of water and make a smooth dough.Grease your hands with ghee and make a dough. Do not add more water, pista dough would become very sticky. If its too sticky, add a tbsp of maida and mix it in a kadai in very low flame to make it non-sticky and thick. Grease your hands with ghee and knead it soft. Divide the dough into 2 parts and make two logs/ cylinder shaped by rolling with your palm on a plate or counter top. Keep it aside. Now take the cashew dough and place it in between the butter paper. Roll it thin with a  rolling pin/chapati roller. Cut the circle into 2 parts as shown in the pic. Take one half of the circle, place one of the pista log in the center.The size of pista log and the cashew dough circle should be the same. Fold it once from above and below the log. It will resemble a log. Now roll the log gently. The more you roll, it will elongate and becomes a perfect log.It will stretch double, triple in size. Cut both the ends and taste it ; )) Cut the log into small cylinders by keeping your finger as reference size.Then take one roll and press both the ends gently on a plate or counter top to get perfect round shape.Refer the pictures for clear understanding. Repeat the same with the other half of cashew dough and pista dough. Arrange the kaju pista roll in a plate and let it set for an hour. Enjoy it ! Enjoy !

Note

Trouble shooting tips In case, You missed the right consistency and if the dough becomes crumbly and hard, just break them into pieces. Grind in a big mixie jar adding little water or milk and make a smooth paste. Transfer the mixture to the kadai and again cook it till you attain the correct stage. You can easily identify the right stage as you know where you went wrong. So do it patiently and remove it at the right stage. Note Cashews should be completely dry before grinding. While powdering the cashews please be careful in running the mixie. Over doing it makes the cashews sticky & wet. U wont get the perfect smooth powder. One string consistency is very important. If sugar reaches more than one string consistency, katli will become hard. U have to add more milk to make it soft. Adding more than the required milk makes the dough wet & sticky. It reduces the shelf life of the sweet. U can check the consistency of dough by making a small ball out of it. The ball should be non-sticky. Suppose if u over mix the dough and if it becomes hard, no worries. Just keep the dough in a plate and let it warm. Add few tsp of little milk to it and knead it well by greasing your hands with ghee. It will become soft. Then you can roll it and make pieces as mentioned above.

Delicious Kaju Pista Roll is ready to enjoy !!

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Kesar Burfi Recipe With Milk Powder – Milk Powder Burfi Recipe

Last year during diwali, I posted double layered chocolate burfi with khoya. So this year I wanted to attempt some sweets with milk powder. I tried Kesar burfi recipe with milk powder as my reader friend Harini requested me to share some burfi recipes with milk powder. I followed the recipe from Mullai’s blog and referred Nisha madhulika ji’s youtube video as well. 

Actually I made a two layered burfi just like the original recipe but simplified the cooking procedure. Instead of making the layers separately, I made the dough once, divided them into two parts, applied kesar milk with yellow color to one part and kept the other one as plain. This helped to make the burfi very quickly. But this kesar burfi takes one day time to set completely. It tastes chewy if you eat it on the same day. But it sets perfectly the next day and melts in your mouth. I have tried kesar burfi with khoya and the setting time is the same for khoya as well. 

Friends, if you don’t get khoya in your place, you can opt for this milk powder burfi. There will be no compromise in taste or flavor. Lets see how to make this colorful kesar burfi with milk powder with step by step photos !

Kesar burfi recipe with milk powder

How to make kesar burfi with milk powder

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: 12

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 15 Minutes

Total time: 20 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Milk powder - 1.5 cups Powdered sugar - 3/4 cup Unmelted butter - 1/2 cup Boiled milk - 1/3 cup Cardamom powder or rose essence or kewra water - few drops Kesar/saffron threads - few Milk - 1 tbsp ( to soak saffron) Yellow food color - few drops ( optional)

METHOD

Heat 1 tbsp milk and add saffron threads, few drops of yellow food color to  it. Grease a pan with ghee & grease a flat bottomed bowl with ghee for levelling the dough. Keep it ready. Refer picture below for the idea. In a small non-stick kadai , pour the saffron milk and set aside. We need it for later use. Heat unmelted butter in another big non-stick kadai in low flame. When its melting, add the milk. Mix well. When the milk and butter are mixed well, add the milk powder and stir it without lumps. Milk powder will absorb all the milk & butter and it looks like a thick paste/ khoya.Stir the mixture to become smooth. Now add the powdered sugar and stir well. Sugar gets melted and the paste becomes thin. Keep mixing in low to medium flame. Never increase the flame and do not go away. Stay nearby and keep mixing else the bottom layer gets burnt very quickly. Add the rose water or cardamom powder and keep mixing for 5-6 minutes. The burfi mixture starts to thicken and leaves the sides of kadai. When it starts to leaves the sides and becomes semi thick, take a small portion in plate. It will be very sticky. Grease your fingers with ghee and try to make a ball out of it. If you are able to do make a soft, non sticky ball, its the right consistency. Immediately switch off the flame and stir for few seconds. The heat of kadai is sufficient to thicken the burfi mixture.Mixture will be very sticky and tastes slightly chewy too. But don’t worry. Remove 1/3rd portion of burfi mixture using a ladle and add it to the kesar milk we kept in the kadai earlier. Transfer the remaining mixture to the greased plate, it will fall like a ribbon. Spread it well with the bottom of greased bowl. Let it cool down. In my burfi, two layers were not clearly visible. So its better to add the yellow layer less than half the quantity of white layer. Now take the dough mixed with kesar milk. Keep mixing till all the milk is absorbed by the burfi dough and its color changes to yellow. If you wish, add more yellow color if needed. Switch on the flame and mix it for one minute in very low flame. This is to absorb the extra moisture in the burfi. Transfer it to the greased tray and spread it over the plain white layer. Use the greased bowl and spread it well to cover the white layer. Set it to become warm for 2-3 hours. Grease a knife with ghee and make shapes once the mixture becomes warm. Do not remove the pieces now.This burfi tastes chewy if consumed hot. So Let it rest over night or at least 8 hours by covering with a plastic sheet. The next day, run a knife in the corners and invert the plate. All the pieces will fall easily. Remove and stack it. Store in a box and enjoy for a week. No need to refrigerate. Melt in mouth kesar burfi with milk powder is ready !

Note

Remember this burfi tastes mildly chewy when hot. It tastes great only the next day. Do not forget to add rose essence or cardamom powder to the burfi mixture else it will taste like eating milk powder. Troubleshooting : If you feel, the mixture is not set even after its warm, don’t panic. Again heat the mixture for a minute and spread it OR Just add a tbsp of milk powder to the mixture, knead well to make a smooth dough and spread in a plate. Make shapes and allow it to set for 8 hours . If you have over done the mixture and made it very hard or chewy, add more milk to the mixture, make a paste and again stir it to reach right consistency. But it will take more time to cook.

Try this colorful, kesar burfi with milk powder and celebrate the occasions !

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Tirunelveli Manoharam Recipe – Sweet Murukku Recipe - Manoharam Recipe

Manoharam is a traditional South Indian sweet dish kept in marriages, Seemandham and naming ceremony as seer bakshanam. It is popularly known as Paruppu thengai among Tamil Brahmins. Paruppu thengai koodu is very well decorated and kept for display in most of the occasions.Paruppu thengai koodu is basically a pair of conical shaped containers filled with a variety of nuts like ground nuts, cashew nuts or fried gram dal/ pottukadalai rolled in jaggery syrup or its filled with this Manoharam sweet. I still remember my MIL made this paruppu thengai with pottukadalai for my valaikaapu function. 

Manoharam is made with fried murukku/thenkuzhal rolled in thick jaggery syrup (Vella paagu) flavored with cardamom powder or Dry ginger powder (Sukku podi). Many people make it as manoharam balls during Karthigai deepam festival. In Tirunelveli, apart from Iruttukadai Halwa, Manoharam is also a very popular sweet dish. We call it as “Manavalam” colloquially. Last year a reader asked me to share Tirunelveli manoharam recipe during Diwali. As I had completely forgotten its taste, I couldn’t try and post it. 

Recently I told my Appa to get a pack of Manoharam from Tirunelveli. After tasting it, I got an idea about it and tried at home by watching the Youtube video by Ponna mami. It came out very well with a nice flavor of dry ginger powder. Its an addictive snack. I can much it all through the day !! I found varieties like Kerala Manoharam and Chettinad Manoharam recipes which are different in ingredients and procedure as well. Soon I must try them too. Today lets see how to make Tirunelveli Manoharam recipe with step by step photos !

Check out my other Tirunelveli special recipes HERE

Tirunelveli Manoharam recipe

How to make Tirunelveli Manoharam recipe - a most popular snack !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: 1 cup

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

Besan flour - 1 cup Rice flour - 1/2 cup Hot oil - 1 tbsp Ghee or soft butter - 2 tsp Water & Salt - as needed Cooking oil - to deep fry For sugar syrup Grated jaggery - 1 cup Sugar - 2 tsp Water - 1/2 cup Dry ginger powder/sukku podi - 1 tsp Cardamom powder - If needed

METHOD

First lets prepare the murukku.For this, sieve besan and rice flour in a wide bowl. Add salt, hot oil and ghee to the flour. Mix well. Then add water little by little and make a dough. I made the dough very sticky as shown in the original recipe. So it was very easy to squeeze. Take the murukku press and use a single hole or three holed mould. Grease the press with oil. Fill the dough and set aside. Now heat oil to deep fry and drop a pinch of dough.If it rises to the top immediately, oil is hot. Now simmer the flame and squeeze the murukku either in a circular manner or as a straight line. Don’t worry about the shape because we are going to break them into pieces. Cook both the sides till bubbles cease. Do not fry in high flame, murukku will turn dark. So fry it patiently. Remove in a paper towel. Deep fry all the batches. Let it cool down completely. Take the powdered jaggery, sugar and water in a kadai. Mix & melt it. Strain the syrup if needed. Let the syrup roll boil and reaches soft ball consistency. To check this, take some syrup and pour it in a plate with water. Gather the syrup and try to make a soft ball. It is called soft ball consistency. Switch off the flame. Add dry ginger powder and mix well. Now break the cooled murukku into pieces ( make small pieces if you are making balls,else break them roughly) and add them to the jaggery syrup. Mix well. Make sure all murukku pieces are coated with the syrup. Make balls when it becomes warm enough Or Remove in a plate and let it cool. They look cluttered, remove them carefully and keep it in a plate. Serve & enjoy !

Note

The consistency of jaggery syrup is more important.It should be in soft ball consistency or even slight hard ball is fine else the syrup won’t coat well. Dry ginger powder adds a nice flavor. It aids digestion too. So don’t skip it. You can use soft butter instead of ghee.

Try this yummy, addictive Manoharam snack at home and enjoy !

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Kara Boondi Recipe – Spicy Boondi Recipe - Namkeen Boondi Recipe

In this post, I have shared the recipes of basic Boondi recipe along with South Indian Kara boondi recipe and North Indian style namkeen  boondi recipes with step by step photo and troubleshooting tips.

Kara boondi & oma podi are Raksha’s most favorite snacks recipes. So we used to buy them from snacks shops very often. Recently we bought a pack of colorful kara boondi from Lakshmi Sweets. We call this as muttai kara boondhi in Tamil as it looks round in shape. 

For every Diwali, I used to make oma podi. But the colorful and spicy boondi tempted me to give a try. So I prepared Kara boondi recipe at home for the first time. I have tried it thrice since yesterday. First I made boondi adding besan flour, rice flour and cooking soda just like my bajji recipe. It came out crispy, crunchy but it was oily too. So this morning, I again tried it by watching Nisha Madhulika & Vahchef’s basic boondi recipe video. The recipe was so simple with just 2 ingredients. When I tried it ,I was extremely happy with the results. It was so crunchy and not oily at all. I was very happy that I learnt how to make perfect boondi recipe without tails or flat boondi. This is an all rounder recipe. 

By following this recipe, you can make sweet boondi, boondi ladoo, South Indian kara boondi/Spicy boondi mixture ( Tamil nadu style), North Indian style namkeen boondi, boondi raita & boondi chaat as well. You can make so many yummy teatime boondi snacks. I too made it colorful like in shops. Raksha and Sendhil loved it a lot. We enjoyed it with Sambar rice & munched it during our teatime.
Now Lets see how to make boondi recipe at home along with the recipes of South Indian style Kara boondi and North Indian style Boondi namkeen with step by step pictures !!

Boondi Recipe - Kara boondi/ boondi namkeen recipe

How to make Boondi at home and prepare kara boondi and boondi namkeen with it !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Snacks

Serves: -

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 25 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Basic boondi recipe Besan flour - 1 cup ( I used fine variety) Rice flour - 1 tbsp (optional) Cooking oil - 1.5 tsp Water - around 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp ( Approx) Salt - a pinch Food color – Green & Red ( To make colorful boondi) South Indian Kara boondi recipe Fried Boondi - 1.5 cups Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Hing/Asafetida - 1/8 tsp Salt - 2 pinches Roasted peanut and cashews - a fistful Roasted curry leaves - few North Indian Namkeen Boondi recipe Fried Boondi - 1.5 cups Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Dhania powder - 1/4 tsp Chat masala powder – 1/8 tsp Amchur powder – a big pinch Black salt – 1/8 tsp Sugar – 2 pinches Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp Roasted peanut and cashews - a fistful Roasted curry leaves - few

HOW TO MAKE KARA BOONDI

You need three ladles for making boondi. Refer the picture below. Take 1 cup of besan flour in a wide bowl. I did not use rice flour. Mix with besan if you are using it. Add some water ( Say 1/4 cup) and make a thick paste. Use a whisk and make a lump free paste. Again add 1/4 cup of water and make a smooth batter. Add a pinch of salt and cooking oil. Mix well. Batter should be slightly thinner than bajji batter consistency. Add 1-2 tbsp extra if needed. Beat the batter vigorously with a whisk for 2-3 minutes. This step is more important to make the batter smooth. Set the batter aside for 5 minutes. If you want to make colorful boondi, divide the batter into 3 parts and add green food color to one, red food color to the other one. Let the third one be plain. Heat oil in a kadai to deep fry the boondi. Take a spoon and dip the back of spoon in the batter. Hold the back of spoon at 10 cms distance from the kadai. Batter will fall in the oil and If it rises to the top immediately, oil temperature is prefect. Now check whether the boondi looks flat, with tails or a perfect round.  Based on that, you can adjust the consistency of batter. If the boondi is flat or with tails, batter is thick or oil temperature is low. So add little more water and try again. If boondi has tails, it may also be due the distance of spoon is less from oil. So hold it slightly high and try it. If the boondi is not hollow, add little more water. If the batter becomes very thin, add a tsp of gram flour, beat it well and again try it. Keep checking with the spoon until you get round boondi. Now take the batter and beat it really well. Take the slotted ladle and hold it above the oil. Distance should be around 10 cms from the kadai. Now pour half a ladle of batter to the slotted ladle.Let the batter fall as drops automatically. It shows the correct consistency. No need to spread it with another ladle or tap it. Remember to pour only the required batter for the oil you kept for deep frying. If you try to fry more boondi in less oil, it may clutter together in the middle. Batter will clutter in the middle if the heat of oil is less. As soon as you pour the batter, boondi should fall immediately, rises up and moves to the corner of kadai. It shows the right consistency and perfect temperature of oil. Flip the boondi in oil and cook till the Sshh sound stops completely. Keep the flame medium while frying. If you remove it before cooking properly, boondi will become soggy and spoils the entire snack. So please be careful while frying. Before making the next batch, wipe the slotted ladle with a cloth or tissue paper and again pour a ladleful of batter.Beat the batter every time before you deep fry. Deep dry all the boondi and keep it in a tissue. Now take a handful of raw peanuts and deep fry in oil. When it is half fried, add the broken cashews. When the cashews starts to turn golden, add the curry leaves. Fry till crispy. Remove everything and keep in a tissue paper. Mix all the 3 color boondi, fried nuts and curry leaves. For South Indian Kara boondi, take half of the cooked boondi mixture, roasted nuts, curry leaves.Add red chilli powder, hing, salt and mix well with a ladle.Do not use your hands for mixing. For North Indian style boondi namkeen, take the remaining half of the cooked boondi, roasted nuts, add red chilli powder, dhania powder, cumin powder, amchoor powder, chat masala and sugar, salt. Mix well with a ladle and Set aside. Store in an air tight box after the mixture cools down completely. It stays crispy for weeks.. Enjoy with your tea/Coffee or with sambar rice, rasam rice ! Enjoy !

Note

No need to use rice flour or cooking soda in this recipe. If you wish, you can add 1 tsp rice flour for 1 cup of besan. Adding oil is a must. The consistency of boondi batter and the distance of ladle you hold from the oil is more important to make perfect round boondi. Boondi making comes by practice and with some trial & error. You cannot make perfect  roundels every time. Some tails may be here and there but you can make 90% perfect boondi even in your first attempt if you follow the steps carefully. Do not forget to beat the batter every time before frying.

Enjoy this colorful, crunchy, spicy kara boondi with rice, tea/coffee ! Tastes yumm !!

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