{"id":33,"date":"2026-08-18T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/blog\/cashews-in-everyday-cooking\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:00:00","slug":"cashews-in-everyday-cooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/blog\/cashews-in-everyday-cooking\/","title":{"rendered":"Cashews in everyday cooking: three easy ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cashews are one of the most useful ingredients you can keep in a kitchen. They thicken gravies without cream, turn into sweets with very few ingredients, and lift a plain bowl of rice into something special. Here are three simple ideas, all of which work well with broken cashews.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Creamy cashew gravy base<\/h2>\n<p>This is the trick behind the silky texture of many restaurant curries such as korma, shahi paneer and butter masala. You can make a batch and use it across several dishes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You will need:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>20 to 25 broken cashews (about a small handful)<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 cup hot water<\/li>\n<li>2 tablespoons milk or more water, to blend<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Method:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Soak the cashews in the hot water for 15 to 20 minutes until soft.<\/li>\n<li>Drain, then blend with the milk or a few spoons of fresh water into a perfectly smooth paste.<\/li>\n<li>Cook your onion and tomato masala as usual, then stir in the cashew paste near the end.<\/li>\n<li>Simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes. Do not boil hard or the gravy may split.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The paste keeps in the fridge for two to three days, or you can freeze it in an ice-cube tray and drop a cube or two into curries when needed.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Easy kaju katli<\/h2>\n<p>Kaju katli is considered a difficult sweet, but it needs only three main ingredients. The key is patience with the sugar syrup.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You will need:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 cup (about 150g) cashews, ground to a fine powder<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 cup (about 100g) sugar<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 cup water<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon ghee, plus a little extra for greasing<\/li>\n<li>A pinch of cardamom powder<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Method:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Grind the cashews in short pulses, not continuously, so they stay dry and powdery instead of turning into butter. Sieve to remove coarse bits.<\/li>\n<li>Heat the sugar and water in a pan until the sugar dissolves, then cook for a few minutes until the syrup becomes slightly sticky. Press a drop between your fingers: it should form a single thin thread when you pull them apart.<\/li>\n<li>Reduce the heat to low, add the cashew powder, ghee and cardamom, and stir continuously for 4 to 5 minutes until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a soft dough.<\/li>\n<li>Move to a greased plate, let it cool for a couple of minutes, then knead briefly until smooth.<\/li>\n<li>Roll out to about 3 mm thickness between two sheets of butter paper. Cut into diamonds once cool.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If the dough is sticky, cook it for another minute. If it is dry and crumbly, add a few drops of warm ghee.<\/p>\n<h2>3. Roasted cashew pulao<\/h2>\n<p>A pulao is a good way to use cashews as a topping and an ingredient at the same time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You will need:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 cup basmati rice, washed and soaked for 20 minutes<\/li>\n<li>2 tablespoons ghee<\/li>\n<li>A handful of broken cashews<\/li>\n<li>1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, 1 small cinnamon stick and 2 cardamom pods<\/li>\n<li>1 onion, thinly sliced<\/li>\n<li>Peas, carrots or beans, about 1 cup in total<\/li>\n<li>1 3\/4 cups water and salt to taste<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Method:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat the ghee and fry the cashews until golden. Take them out and set aside.<\/li>\n<li>In the same ghee, add the whole spices, then the onion, and cook until soft and lightly golden.<\/li>\n<li>Add the vegetables and cook for two minutes, then add the drained rice and gently stir.<\/li>\n<li>Pour in the water, add salt, cover and cook on low heat until the rice is done, about 15 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Rest for five minutes, fluff with a fork and fold in the fried cashews just before serving.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Why broken cashews work so well here<\/h2>\n<p>None of these recipes depend on the cashew looking perfect. They depend on its taste and texture, which broken cashews deliver at a friendlier price. Keep a pack in an airtight container and you will find yourself reaching for them every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A creamy cashew gravy base, a no-fuss kaju katli and a simple roasted-cashew pulao: three recipes that make the most of cashew pieces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eternitycoders.xyz\/santhosh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}