How to Make Diwali Mithai at Home: Besan Ladoo and Kaju Katli in a Stainless Steel Kadai

Diwali in our house has always smelled like roasting besan before it smelled like diyas and firecrackers. My mother would start her mithai marathon a good week before the festival, and by the time relatives started dropping in, there'd be steel dabbas lined up on the kitchen counter — one with besan ladoo, another with kaju katli cut into perfect diamonds, both made in the same well-seasoned kadai she'd used for years.

There's something about homemade mithai that no sweet shop box can replace. This Diwali, I'm sharing two mithai that belong on every festive thali — besan ladoo, for its rustic, melt-in-the-mouth comfort, and kaju katli, for its shop-style elegance that's secretly easier to make at home than most people think. Both come together with pantry staples, a little patience, and a good, heavy-bottomed steel kadai doing most of the heavy lifting.

Ingredients

For Besan Ladoo (Serves 20–22)

• 2 cups besan (gram flour), preferably the coarser variety
• 1 cup ghee, plus a little extra if needed
• 1 to 1¼ cups powdered sugar (boora)
• ¼ cup mixed nuts, finely chopped (almonds, cashews, pistachios)
• ½ tsp green cardamom powder
• A small pinch of salt

For Kaju Katli (Makes 20–25 pieces)

• 1½ cups whole cashews (kaju)
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ to ⅓ cup water
• ½ tsp ghee, for greasing
• A few strands of saffron or a drop of cardamom essence (optional)
• Edible silver leaf (chandi warq), for garnish (optional)

Step-by-Step Method

Besan Ladoo

1. Heat the ghee in a heavy bottom kadai steel over low-medium flame until it melts completely.
2. Add the besan and start roasting immediately, stirring continuously. Keep the flame on the lower side — this is a 20–25 minute process, not a race.
3. Roast until the besan turns a deep golden colour and smells distinctly nutty, with the ghee beginning to separate slightly at the edges. A wide, heavy kadai helps you roast evenly without one patch turning dark faster than the rest.
4. Stir in the chopped nuts in the last 2–3 minutes of roasting.
5. Take the kadai off the heat and let the mixture cool until just warm to touch — not hot, not cold.
6. Add the powdered sugar, cardamom powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly until well combined.
7. While the mixture is still warm and pliable, take small portions and roll into smooth, round ladoos between your palms.
8. Let them cool completely on a plate before storing in an airtight container.

Kaju Katli

1. Pulse the cashews in a mixer in short bursts until you get a fine, even powder — stop before the nuts start releasing oil.
2. In a kadai, combine sugar and water and cook on medium flame, stirring occasionally, until it reaches one-string consistency (a small drop between two fingers pulls into a single unbroken thread).
3. Lower the flame and add the cashew powder to the syrup, stirring quickly and constantly to avoid lumps forming.
4. Keep stirring on low flame — the mixture thickens fast and starts pulling away from the sides of the kadai within a few minutes. Take it off the heat right at this stage.
5. Transfer the warm mixture onto a greased steel tasla or tray.
6. While it's still warm, knead briefly, then roll it out evenly between two sheets of butter paper to about ¼-inch thickness.
7. Apply silver leaf if using, and let it cool just until firm but not fully hard.
8. Cut into diamond shapes with a sharp knife, then let the pieces cool completely before separating and storing.

Pro Tips for Cooking This Dish Perfectly

• ✓Roast besan low and slow — a rushed roast on high flame burns the outside while the inside stays raw-tasting.
• ✓Cool the besan mixture to warm, not hot, before adding sugar — hot mixture melts the sugar and your ladoos won't hold their shape.
• ✓Watch the kaju katli syrup closely once it starts bubbling — it moves from under-done to overcooked within moments.
• ✓Keep the kaju katli dough warm while rolling; once it cools fully, it turns crumbly and hard to work with.
• ✓Use fresh, good-quality ghee and cashews — with only a handful of ingredients, quality makes an outsized difference.
• ✓Store both mithai in airtight steel containers to keep them fresh through the festive week.
• ✓Making either recipe for the first time? Try a small test batch before scaling up — it saves the whole lot from any last-minute surprises.

Why the Right Kadai Makes a Difference

Diwali mithai-making is unforgiving of shortcuts, and nowhere is that truer than in how your kadai holds and spreads heat. Besan can turn from golden to burnt in under a minute in a thin, uneven pan, and kaju katli's sugar syrup needs steady warmth to hit that one-string stage without catching at the edges before the centre catches up. A heavy, well-built stainless steel kadai — like our Doniv Titanium Triply Kadhai with Lid — spreads heat evenly across the base, so you can roast besan patiently without babysitting one corner of the pan while another scorches. It also means no metallic aftertaste seeping into delicate, ghee-forward sweets, which matters more than people realise until they've tasted mithai made in the wrong pan. It's a quiet, unglamorous upgrade, but it's often the real difference between mithai that tastes homemade-good and mithai that tastes like it came from your favourite sweet shop.

FAQs

Cooking Sweets This Diwali? Explore Our Cookware Range

Whether you're roasting besan for ladoo, cooking sugar syrup for kaju katli, or plating everything up for guests, here's the cookware that makes festive cooking easier this year.

Doniv Titanium Triply Kadhai with Lid, 20cm Our go-to triply kadai for roasting besan low and slow — the heavy triply base spreads heat evenly so nothing catches or scorches. ₹2,016 ₹2,688 Shop Now

Claro Heavy Gauge Hammered Kadai, 2.5mm (1700ml) A smaller, heavy-gauge hammered kadai that's ideal for a single batch of ladoo or a pot of kaju katli syrup, without pulling out a bigger pan. ₹2,360 ₹2,950 Shop Now

Doniv Titanium Triply Tasla, 20cm (1.65L) Wide, shallow, and flat-bottomed — exactly what you need to spread, knead, and cut kaju katli into neat diamonds once the mixture is ready. ₹1,313 ₹1,750 Shop Now

Stainless Steel Salad Tray, Mirror Finish Once your mithai is set and cut, this mirror-finish tray is a lovely way to plate and gift it to family, neighbours, and everyone who drops by this Diwali. ₹488 ₹610 Shop Now