Every Diwali, kitchens across Mewar buy whole W240 cashew and grind it into katli. It works perfectly and it is the single most common way to overspend on a sweet in India.
Short answer: Buy four-piece tukda. The cashew is being ground to a paste, so size is invisible and whole grades cost around a third more for nothing. What does matter is that the nuts are dry and fresh.
The grade question, settled
Kaju katli is cashew ground to a fine powder and cooked with sugar syrup. Nothing about the original shape of the nut survives that process.
So W180, W240, W320, faad, tukda - all of them make the identical sweet. The only thing the grade changes is what you paid. Four-piece tukda typically costs around a third less than whole grades, and in a five-kilo Diwali batch that is real money.
The one genuine reason to buy a whole grade is if you are also making something where the cashew is seen - a thali, a garnish, a gift box. Then buy both, and do not grind the expensive one.
What actually decides whether it works
The cashew must be dry. This is the one that ruins batches. A cashew that has taken on any moisture will release oil when ground and turn to paste instead of powder, and a paste cannot be cooked into katli - it goes grainy and oily. If there is any doubt, spread the nuts in the sun for an hour or warm them in a pan on the lowest flame and let them cool completely.
Grind cold, in pulses. A continuous run in a mixie heats the nuts, the oil comes out, and you get the same paste problem. Short pulses with rests between, and sieve - anything that will not pass the sieve goes back for another pulse.
One-thread syrup. Sugar and water cooked until a drop between finger and thumb pulls a single thread. Under-cooked and the katli will not set; over-cooked and it goes hard and crumbly. This is the step that separates a good batch from a sad one, and it is worth doing with a small test rather than by eye the first time.
Fresh matters more than grade
A stale cashew makes stale katli, and because the sweet is almost entirely cashew there is nothing to hide behind. If the nuts taste faintly of paint, so will the finished sweet, and no amount of elaichi covers it.
So the real buying advice is the opposite of what people do: do not pay for the grade, do pay attention to the lot. Smell before you buy. Even cream colour, plump, clean snap. A fresh tukda beats a tired W180 by a distance that anybody can taste.
Buy it close to when you will make the sweet, too. Broken grades have more cut surface exposed to air and go stale faster than whole ones - which is a reason to buy tukda a week before Diwali rather than a month.
How much to buy
Roughly 700 grams of cashew per kilo of finished katli. For a family making two kilos for Diwali, that is one and a half kilos of tukda.
If you are making enough to give away - and most people in Salumbar are - work backwards from the boxes. Fifteen pieces to a 250 gram box, twenty boxes, is five kilos of katli and three and a half kilos of cashew.
Order it a week ahead if it is more than two kilos. Not for stock reasons, but because Diwali week is Diwali week.
Buying it in Salumbar
Our cashew (kaju) is on this site with the weight and the price on every pack. Order before 5 PM and it reaches you the same day inside Salumbar, free over ₹200. We have been on Sadar Bazar since 1961. If you would rather just say what you want, send it on WhatsApp and we will confirm the price before we pack anything.
Questions people ask
Which kaju is best for kaju katli?
Four-piece tukda. The nut is ground to a powder, so the grade is invisible in the finished sweet and whole grades cost around a third more.
Why did my kaju katli turn oily?
The cashews were either damp or ground too long. Both release oil. Grind in short pulses, and dry the nuts first if there is any doubt.
How much kaju for 1 kg katli?
About 700 grams of cashew, plus roughly 350 grams of sugar.
Does the cashew need to be roasted first?
No. Katli uses raw cashew. Roasting changes the colour and the taste and is not what the sweet is.
Why is my katli not setting?
The syrup was under-cooked. It needs to reach one-thread consistency - a drop pulled between finger and thumb should form a single thread.
Can I use cashew powder from a packet?
You can, and it is often stale and sometimes cut with other flours. Grinding your own from fresh tukda takes five minutes and is the whole quality difference.
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