Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Cashew~Walnut Laddu (Kaju-Akhrot Burfi)

When I invited my friends to celebrate Sankranthi festival, in addition to the traditional ‘sweet pongal’, I also prepared cashew walnut laddu. Low in sugar calories, high in nut energy! Cashews and walnuts are first roasted and powdered, then cooked in milk-sugar kova till they all came together into solid fudge like consistency. Cooling further solidifies the mixture and then small portions are taken and shaped into rounds -‘laddus‘ or cut into squares-‘burfis‘. I like the round shape, so I always go with round laddus. Very convenient to hold and eat, children particularly love laddus.

Cashews, Walnuts, Milk and Sugar in the Background

Recipe:

Half gallon- Whole milk
2 cups-sugar (3 cups if you like the laddus on the sweeter side)
1 cup – cashews
1 cup – walnuts

Preparation:

Milk and Sugar: In a thick bottomed big pot, bring milk to boil. Add sugar. Stirring occasionally, simmer the milk-sugar mixture until it gets thick and is reduced to about one fourths of the original quantity. It takes at least 45 minutes to one hour.:) Do this on medium heat. Avoid high heat and take care not to scald the milk.

Cashews and Walnuts: Meanwhile, lightly roast cashews and walnuts separately in an iron skillet. Let them cool down to room temperature. Separate 10 pieces from each and chop them into small pieces. With the remaining ones – make fine powder of them in a food processor/mixer.

Milk and sugar simmering thickened milk and sugar after 1 hour on the stove
Milk and sugar simmering………………..Thickened milk and sugar kova after one hour on the stove

Kova into Laddu: Add this fine powder to the thickened milk-sugar kova and cook for 15 minutes, stirring continuously, until the mixture is firm. Sprinkle chopped chunks of cashews and walnuts that were kept aside. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes until the mixture is almost crumbly and comes away easily from the sides of pan.

Take a spoonful of mixture and press it with your hands into a ball. If it holds shape, then mixture is ready for cooling. Turn off the heat. Spoon the mixture into a greased square or round pan. Level it with a spatula and let it cool for at least 4 to 5 hours. Cut into squares for burfis or take a spoonful of mixture, shape it with your hands into a round ball for laddus. Store the laddus in glass jar. They will stay fresh for upto one week.

(This recipe makes 15 medium sized laddus.)

Cashew-Walnut Laddu

One medium sized cashew-walnut laddu, my entry to ‘Sugar-Low Friday’ event hosted by lovely Sam of Beck & Posh.

By the time my friends left, I had only four laddus remaining out of 20. Two for me and two for Vijay, enough for us. This is how I do my ‘Sugar – Low’, by portion control. In my view, this is also one of the ways to lower the sugar consumption.

Tagged with:

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Cashews,Indian Sweets 101,Milk,Mitai,Sugar,Walnuts (Friday January 27, 2006 at 7:16 pm- permalink)
Comments (26)

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26 comments for Cashew~Walnut Laddu (Kaju-Akhrot Burfi) »

  1. Ooohhh, that looks so scrumptious. Am so drooling here. How positively yummy!

    Indira replies…
    We think so too, thanks MM.

    Comment by MM — January 27, 2006 @ 8:14 pm

  2. This is such a new type of ladoo to me. Adding toasted nuts to thickenend milk sounds delicious. Wish I had that heavy saucepan too. Great entry as usual, Indira!

    Indira replies…
    Thanks Mika.

    Comment by mika — January 27, 2006 @ 8:24 pm

  3. These do sound very, very good Indira! I agree – portion control is the way to go. Sometimes I just have to have a little sweet and I’ll keep eating other things unsuccessfully trying to satisfy that urge. I think I’d be better off just eating a small sweet right from the start!

    Indira replies…
    I do that too sometimes, Cathy.
    Portion control is the key when you have a sweet tooth. Tough to do, but it works for me.

    Comment by Cathy — January 27, 2006 @ 11:32 pm

  4. Oh, this sounds so wonderful!

    Indira replies…
    Thanks Michele.

    Comment by Michele — January 28, 2006 @ 1:16 am

  5. Indira,

    fantastic as usual, this laddu is new to me too…but this time it’s the fabulous kadai that’s hooked me! did you buy that from india?

    Swarna

    Indira replies..
    Thanks Swarna. I bought the kadai at Subji Mandi on Oak tree road, New Jersey.

    Comment by swarna — January 28, 2006 @ 9:36 am

  6. Been browsing your great blog today.
    Keep up the good work!
    Maybe I found it concidental since I was perusing all your old blogs, but isn’t the milk cooking pic the same as in an earlier post about “doodh peda” posted on Oct 31?!!

    Indira replies…
    Thanks!
    You have noticed that these two small pictures are from ‘pala kova’ post. I used them here, because these pictures are better and the process is exactly the same. Also I thought, those two small pictures give an idea to the ‘newbies’, how the milk looks after reduced to one fourths of its original amount. That is the advantage of having one’s own digital photo archive.

    Comment by newbie — January 28, 2006 @ 9:35 pm

  7. Hi Indira,
    someone introduced your site to me when I looked for palak paneer’s recipe. Very beautiful blog and well-organized info!
    I can’t wait to try out your cashew-walnut laddu too ๐Ÿ™‚ Wonder what its texture like? Chewy?

    Indira replies,
    Exactly like chewy and grainy. You have to eat it taking small bites, slowly savoring every bite, to get the full taste.:)
    Thanks for the compliments, I really appreciate them.

    Comment by gattina — January 29, 2006 @ 12:40 am

  8. Hi Indira
    thank you for your entry – i almost missed it – I think I lost the email. Is it is ok to use your picture in the roundup? I notice you copyrighted it – It will link straight through to your recipe of course.

    thanks for taking part

    sam

    Indira replies,
    Thanks for hosting this event, Sam!
    I totally forgot about the email, I’ve just sent you an email along with photo of the entry, please check it out.
    I’ve noticed 3 food bloggers and 2 Indian local newspapers stealing my photos without giving any credit to my blog or me. So I decided to copyright everything.

    Comment by sam — January 29, 2006 @ 4:03 pm

  9. “Iรƒยขรขโ€šยฌรขโ€žยขve noticed 3 food bloggers and 2 Indian local newspapers stealing my photos without giving any credit to my blog or me. So I decided to copyright everything.”

    Indira, That’s plain nasty! Would it be ok if I ask which newspapers they were?

    Indira replies…
    I really didn’t want to bother with copyright etc., on my blog. But when I saw my photos on other sites with no credit to me, I really felt outraged.
    I really had to dig them out for you. The newspapers are online versions.
    1. Tamil Murasu ,
    A reader sent me the link, they stole my photo of ‘ragi dosa’ .

    2. My photo of Sprouted Moong Dal Dosa is stolen by India Times.

    Are you by any chance a lawyer? Want to do some pro bono work on behalf of me, sending some notices, invoices etc., to these newspapers? ๐Ÿ™‚

    Comment by Kay — January 31, 2006 @ 9:23 am

  10. That is terrible! I do not know any lawyers in India but you should really give India Times what for!

    Comment by MM — January 31, 2006 @ 8:05 pm

  11. No Indira, unfortunately I’m not a layer, but, if I were one, I’d do that in a jiffy.

    I wanted to know which newspaper stooped so low. Or was it somebody else who stole your picture and sent a recipe and got the credit ???

    And maybe send a nasty mail to the editors why they stooped so low and people do know where their pictures are from.

    How long would it take to give credit? I just can’t believe some people’s attitude.

    Comment by Kay — February 1, 2006 @ 6:51 pm

  12. hi indira
    i like u r recipeies and u r’s recipe making producers are very easy .its tells like its naturally u r doing there.this cashew laddu recipe is very delisious.i love walnuts very much thank for u r recipies

    Comment by roopa — March 20, 2006 @ 2:44 pm

  13. hi indira
    i am looking for diffrent type chapathi.so i searched u website but i dont seen paratha (chapathi)recipies , i mean diffrent vareity of partha like malysian partha i like this malysian partha but i dont know how to make .we usually brought this from indian store i tried to make partha but not used we are in maine state we dont have grocerry store to buy when we want i have to go boston.so that i want to make in home .i hope u will help me to solve this problem because ur’s recipe methods are very…..best. iwait for u replay

    Comment by roopa — March 20, 2006 @ 4:06 pm

  14. Dear Indira, Namasthe.
    Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I saw this yesterday and couldnot resist my temptation to taste it.
    I made it yesterday and it became a big hit. It is really simple and very tasty. I made it into squares and laddu. It was like dry fruit kalakand which I had in Hyd.
    I took some pics of my laddu/kalakhand and would send you some day. I never expected that it would turnout this good. I tried to attempt some of the recipes from many other sites but was not so successful.
    I really like your presentation skills and your step by step explanation using photos.
    Please continue the good work of posting tasty and wonderful recipes.

    Indira replies:
    Dear Raveena, I’m glad it turned out great and became a hit at your home. It’s take little bit time to prepare from scratch (waiting for the milk to thicken) but worth the effort. This is also my favorite party kind of sweet, and I often prepare it whenever friends, family visit us.
    I’d love to see the images. My email id is – mailmeatmahanandi@yahoo.com.
    Thanks for the feedback and for this lovely comment.

    Comment by Raveena — March 23, 2006 @ 9:19 am

  15. Hi Indira,
    Just wanted to let you know that I prepared this sweet , and it turned out awesome.You have been blessed thousand times by hubby ๐Ÿ™‚

    Thanks for such lovely recipes,
    -Anwesha

    Indira replies:
    You are welcome, Anwesha. I’m glad you two enjoyed this recipe. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Comment by Anwesha — April 18, 2006 @ 3:31 pm

  16. Thanks. So much good information about it.

    Comment by PRATIK — April 22, 2006 @ 1:02 am

  17. Hi Indira,

    While searching some good indian sweets on internet I came across your website, which is tremendously awsome. I always like to cook new dishes and I feel if anybody does it from the heart the recipes comes out very nice. That involvement can be seen in your each recipe. Also you use excellent ingradients and the pictures are really helpful to get an idea. Thanks to you for your incredible recipes.

    Savita

    Comment by Savita Dighe — August 13, 2006 @ 10:05 pm

  18. Hi Indira,
    I came across your website while searching for mithai/sweets recipes for diwali. I am glad I found your site. It’s the best food site I’ve ever come across.
    For this Cashew-walnut laddu, I was wondering if anyone has tried making this with pecans? They’re very similar to walnut, except that the bitter (I don’t know how else to explain the walnut after-taste) after-taste is not there.
    In other words they’re slightly ‘sweeter’ in taste than walnuts.
    I’d love to know the results if you or anyone else tried it out.

    Indira replies:
    Hi Nirupama: Thanks for your nice words about “Mahanandi”. Appreciate it.
    I have prepared this same sweet with toasted pecans before for a party and everybody liked the taste of the laddus. The measurements are the same.
    If you try this cashew-pecan version, let me know how you like it. Thanks.

    Comment by Nirupama — October 18, 2006 @ 4:43 pm

  19. Indira, stumbled into this recipe while searching for walnut recipes:-) As usual, creative and irresistable! I have been looking for this heavy saucepan for a while. You think you would have some in stock at your amazon store?:-)

    Thanks,
    Maya

    Indira replies:
    Hi Maya, thanks!
    I have just added a heavy duty aluminum saucepan to my storefront.
    Link : Here.
    Hope that helps and thanks.

    Comment by Maya — October 26, 2006 @ 3:08 pm

  20. Finally I got to make this ! It was absolutely delicious. I doubled the quantity as I was making this for my husbands colleagues for a Christmas party.

    Will be making a batch again only for me ๐Ÿ™‚

    Glad to hear that, Priya. Thanks for letting me know.
    Happy party hosting. ๐Ÿ™‚
    —Indira

    Comment by Priya S&S — December 7, 2006 @ 6:49 pm

  21. excellent

    Comment by seema — December 29, 2006 @ 3:47 pm

  22. This recepie is excellent. My family and friends loved it. Thanks, keep posting. ๐Ÿ˜‰
    Renu

    Comment by Renu Khatter — February 20, 2007 @ 2:48 pm

  23. This recipe is just wonderful. Thanks for posting.

    Comment by Neela — January 24, 2008 @ 11:10 am

  24. how much is one gallon in litres pls? how many litres of whole milk should i use?

    Hello Reshma,
    1 gallon is approximately about 3.75 litres. For this recipe, about two litres of whole milk would be sufficient.
    Hope this helps.
    -Indira

    Comment by reshma — February 25, 2008 @ 12:41 am

  25. Hi,Indira, I love your recipies and you present them so nicely. My husband is from Nandyal. we live in Phoenix, living here in US for 36 years

    Pramada

    Comment by Pramada — April 14, 2009 @ 2:08 pm

  26. Hi Indira,
    I tried this recipe and the taste was good. However, I was not able to make it thick enough to make a laddoo or into a barfi. What should I add more to make it more binding.

    thanks and it was nice

    Comment by Kanchan — March 31, 2012 @ 5:13 pm

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