Khoya Kaju

Ingredients:

for the ground paste:

1 medium onion

1 medium tomato

1 inch ginger

2-3small to medium garlic, chopped

1 or 2 green chilies Or 1 teaspoon chopped green chili (hari mirch)

other ingredients for kaju khoya gravy:

¾ cup cashews or 100 grams cashews (kaju)

125 grams khoya – about ¾ cup crumbled khoya (mawa or dried evaporated milk solids)

1 tejpatta (indian bay leaf)

2 cloves (lavang)

½ inch cinnamon (dalchini)

2 green cardamoms (chotti elachi)

½ teaspoon shah jeera (caraway seeds) – optional

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)

1 teaspoon coriander powder (dhania powder)

¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala, add as required

2 tablespoon low fat cream

¾ cup water or add as per the consistency you want

1 to 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves for garnish (dhania patta)

2 tablespoon ghee

salt as required

Method:

chop 1 medium onion, 1 medium tomato 1 inch ginger, 6 to 7 garlic and 1 or 2 green chilies. keep aside.

take the chopped onion, ginger, tomato, garlic, green chilies in chutney jar or grinder jar.

grind everything to a smooth paste without adding any water. keep this ground paste aside.

measure cashews and take 3/4 cup or 100 grams cashews. if you prefer you can rinse the cashews and then pat dry them with a kitchen cotton napkin.

heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan.

add the cashews and begin to saute the.

continue to saute them till they become golden.

remove the golden cashews and keep them aside on a plate.

making kaju khoya recipe:

in the same pan, add the whole spices – 1 tejpatta, 2 cloves, 1/2 inch cinnamon, 2 green cardamoms, 1/2 tsp shah jeera (optional). saute till the spices become aromatic. takes just a few seconds.

then add the ground onion paste. stir well.

the onion tomato paste needs to be sauteed or bhunaoed till it starts turning light brown. so this step takes some time.

ensure that you stir often while sauteing and do so on a low flame.

the past will start clumping together and reduce a lot. continue to saute till the paste becomes light golden.

then add the spice powders – 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp garam masala. for a semi white gravy, don’t add turmeric add about ¼ tsp white pepper powder along with the coriander and garam masala powder.

stir well so that the spice powder or masala mixes evenly with the rest of the mixture. keep the flame low as you don’t want the spices to get burnt. you can also switch off the flame, while adding the spices powders, so that they don’t get burnt.

add 3/4 cup grated khoya or crumbled khoya (about 125 grams of khoya)

stir and saute till you see fat releasing the sides of the masala mixture. about 2 minutes on a low flame.

add 3/4 cup water and stir very well. you can also add water as per the consistency you want. for a thicker consistency, add less water. i kept a medium consistency gravy.

then add salt as required.

bring the kaju khoya gravy to a simmer on low to medium flame for 5 to 6 minutes or till you see the some specks of fat floating on top.

add 2 tbsp low fat cream. stir well and then switch off the flame.

lastly add the cashews. keep some cashews for garnish. stir the kaju khoya curry again.

garnish with coriander leaves and serve kaju khoya gravy with tandoori rotis, naan, chapatis or jeera rice or veg pulao.