- It's the Festival of Diwali
and the Festival of Lights.
But it's honestly also the festival
where we eat a lot of sweets and snacks.
Hey guys, I'm Aishwarya and I'm a video producer
from Buzzfeed India, and I'm gonna try my hand
at making some popular Diwali sweets.
Every year my friends and family
kind of gift me sweets and I feel like this year
I really wanted to return the favor
and make some Diwali sweets for them.
I want to start off with something easy
and then increase the difficulty level of each sweet.
I have never cooked any of these things,
but it is Diwali,
It's the victory of good over evil
and today it's all going to be positive.
Please join me in this journey
of either, where we discover that I am a master chef
or you'll just get some good content for this video.
The sweet number one,
Kaju Katli or Kaju Barfi.
It's a debatable sweet because it's either
the most loved or well some people think
it's overrated.
Kaju basically means cashews,
so I'm gonna take one cup of Kaju
and I have to grind this.
We just wanna like, we want a fine powder.
(electric machine grinding)
I need to sieve this because
there might still be like really big chunks.
Take some sugar and then I put water in it.
I am just gonna stir it.
While the sugar melts, I'm gonna take a teaspoon
and take a little bit of cardamom powder or Elaichi.
And I'll take like one eighth of a spoon,
like not a lot.
If I'm being honest, I am a little bit nervous.
All the steps individually, they like work.
But it's when I combine the things
is when a disaster happens,
which is the next step.
Oh, okay, I'm gonna put some ghee,
ghee is clarified butter.
So I'm just gonna put,
one, two, please don't be a lot,
please don't be a lot, please don't be a lot.
Please don't burn, please don't burn
please don't burn.
It's fine guys, it's working out,
it's working out.
This is taking hella long.
My mom used so say this,
if you're feeling stressed about cooking
then that gets transferred
on to the thing that you're cooking.
So it's best to be at peace,
so I'm gonna try and think really happy thoughts
but with my eyes open.
Okay, now I'm just going to put the,
whatever this concoction is on to the plate,
which I have put ghee on.
I need to pull this, but not too much.
I'm supposed to, just like cool it down
by moving it around, because if I don't move it around
it'll kind of become hardened
which we wanna avoid.
I don't know what's happening to the,
Oh my God, It's like super glue.
I can do it, I can do it,
I'm pretty sure there are people who are commenting
right now saying that, Aishwarya you have to
keep it in the pan for a little longer.
I'm quickly gonna take some parchment paper.
I will take that, don't worry.
I mean, maybe worry a little bit.
Okay, I'm gonna place it on this,
gonna take one more parchment paper,
please put butter on this as well
so that it doesn't stick.
If it's gonna be too buttery,
I mean, that's, I feel like that's your problem.
There's no such thing as a lot of ghee.
I have to make it into a square
because Kaju Katli is generally like diamond shaped.
But this is, whenever I'm making like Roti,
It always is square, but now that I wanna make it a square
it's round, like why?
How are you doing this?
I am just gonna take a knife
and make it into a square.
Now, I have to put the silver work on it,
which is kind of the focus and fanciness
of Kaju Katli.
Ah, oh my God, look at,
oh no, I touched it.
Guys, I feel like I'm gonna ruin it if I put this.
It's fine, I mean, it doesn't look bad.
Don't do what I did.
Okay, I'm gonna take one very carefully.
How are you supposed to do this?
Am I just supposed to like,
that did not work out.
I'm just ruining it,
you know what, I'm gonna create
some kind of an art work and there's a design on this.
So all of it looks like uniformly destroyed.
It's supposed to be a map of the world.
Now I have to cut this into diamond shapes.
Guys, it's okay, I can fix it.
Let's, we can salvage this.
I'm gonna take the best looking ones,
which is gonna be hard to find.
They look like really elongated diamonds.
And I'm gonna try and eat one of this.
Hold up, taste wise it tastes like a Kaju Katli,
but it is also the texture of a chewing gum.
You know for all those who think that
Kaju Katli is overrated,
try it in the form of a chewing gum.
Maybe you like it.
But, will I offer it to my friends
in a Diwali gift box?
Probably not, because they'd be a little concerned.
If I were to make it into a completely different shape,
it might work, like isn't that what Diwali is about?
Just swindling your friends, it's not.
They don't look the best,
but they don't look the worst.
Actually I'm not really sure.
My parents are here to taste test this,
I would like you to pick any of these
and taste, their the same only.
And tell me what you think honestly
even though I am your only daughter.
- Very good.
- It is, like taste wise and texture wise.
- Hmm, perfect taste.
- Nicely done - Very nice.
- Okay I have to make more sweets for you all,
so clear my kitchen, so now I can.
- Thank you.
- Sorry.
- It's fine.
Now, were at level two,
which is the Motichoor Ladoo,
which is my favorite.
I'm gonna first take gram flour
which is besan, food coloring,
half a teaspoon off ghee or clarified butter.
I will now whisk this together.
Now I'm supposed to start adding water to this.
I was gonna put little by little,
this is pretty good.
I have some ghee over here
and I just have to put it in this pan.
I have called my mother here,
thank you. - Hi.
To help me, this is called Azhara,
it's basically to make Boondis.
Boondis are these small, small,
very tiny balls of gram flour.
And it's created using like these holes
that you can see.
I'm gonna let this cool,
I am going to prepare Chaashanee
or the sugar syrup.
I am gonna put some sugar, half a cup of water,
kewra water, one fourth of cardamom powder.
Let the sugar melt.
I'm just putting this in
because my mom said that it's fine.
I am supposed to wait till
like the water content goes down.
I'm gonna let this cool down for a bit,
then we shall see the next step
which is shaping it, which I'm actually quite good at.
I have always had like big Motichoor Ladoos,
so maybe I'm gonna make a little bit bigger than this.
So usually Boondi Ladoos, you can see the Boondis,
like the small, small balls
in this you can't.
Okay, so I have called my mother.
- Perfect taste.
- Really!
- Yah, - Are you just saying this
because you're my mother.
- No, no, no.
- Well, I mean, I don't really believe you momma
because I feel like you're just saying
this because I'm your daughter and you love me
and I've made this, but I appreciate it.
And I really appreciate you making this with me.
- Love you.
- Number three is really difficult however,
I kinda have my confidence back.
I'm gonna first make the outer covering,
two cups of Meda, two tablespoons of ghee,
some salt in it, just like little bit.
Next I'm gonna put that ladrava and milk,
I just have to mix these in and I'm supposed
to take milk and put it little by little
and mix everything with my hands.
My hands are clean, I promise.
My family, especially my mom,
she loves Karanji, that's her favorite Diwali sweet.
It is kind of taking shape
like it's not smooth yet,
but it's getting there.
I think this looks really good.
So step one is done.
I have made the dough,
I'm gonna keep it here, while I make the filling.
Half a teaspoon of ghee, half cup of desiccated coconut,
make it golden brown.
It smells like it's about, it's burning,
so I'm gonna transfer this into a bowl.
So this is gonna cool down for a bit,
so I'm gonna start adding the other ingredients.
Half a teaspoon of cardamom powder,
half a teaspoon of nutmeg, one teaspoon of poppy seeds,
a half almonds and cashews, mix it well.
This is fine sugar or what we call in Meraki Pittisakar.
The filling of the sadden is ready
and the outer covering is ready.
Now I'm ready to roll them.
So I'm gonna divide this into smaller balls for it
so that they're equal.
And then I just roll it.
I'm gonna try with this small piece,
if it works out and if it does
then I'll make all of them the same size.
The next step is, I need to put the filling
in the center.
Now in order for it to stick,
I am gonna take a little bit of milk
and I'm gonna put it with my hands
and then I can just slowly, slowly fold it
and then you just press it from all sides.
But in my family, we use a convenient method,
we take this equipment it's called a Chirni
which creates a nice shape.
Also that I'm really proud of,
like look, I'm genuinely really proud of these.
We can start the frying process.
I'm quite surprised that I was able to do this.
I mean, this is level three,
I messed up level one and two.
If I'm being honest I really did not
expect this to happen and I really wanted
it to happen because everyone
from my family can make this,
and now it's just, I could make one as well.
It's kind of like proof that I'm part of this family.
Like look, ah, it's hot.
I have lettered these and I'm gonna call my mom.
- Wow, great.
- (speaks in foreign language)
The truth.
- Hmm, sweetness cumin,
- Really, I thought it was like the perfect sweetness.
But I do like, less sweet.
So it's good overall, except this needs more sugar.
That's it right?
But you would eat this,
like if I make it for Diwali you would like
not have a backup plan and you would just,
you would keep it and then you would give it
to people also?
So I'm a part of this family?
- Yeah.
- So there you have it guys
I managed to make to make three Diwali sweets,
well, one and a half but I'm willing to take that
it's a 50% success rate and I'm glad that it ended
on a positive note with the Karanji.
I'm gonna keep making this,
but if you guys also end up making any of these sweets
then please remember to come to Buzzfeed India
and let me know about it.
Thank you for watching this video.
My name is Aishwarya and I hope you guys
have a happy Diwali.
My Kaju Katli is just out of this world
and that's why it's like a map of the world.
(upbeat music)