Making Cashew Powder: First, remove the required amount of cashews from the fridge and let them come to room temperature. It may take 1-2 hours. This is an important step and you cannot skip it.
Take that into a food processor and make powder by using the pulse button. Do not over-grind otherwise, it starts to release the oil and becomes wet, pasty. We need dry powder here.
Cooking The Mixture: Take sugar and water in a heavy bottom pan on medium-low heat. Let it just come to a boil (no need to simmer).
As soon as it starts boiling add cashew powder, mix it and cook with stirring constantly.
As it gets cooked, it starts to get thick and leaves the sides of the pan. Do not scrap the thin layer that stuck to the pan as it has become chewy now.
Keep cooking until it comes together like a dough. Depending on the gas heat and size/shape of the pan, it may take around 8-10 minutes. CHECK: take a small portion, blow it so it is touchable, make a small ball and If it is sticking to the finger it needs more cooking. If not sticking then it is ready.
Remove it to a greased plate and let it cool to touch. It should be warm (not cooled completely).
Kneading, Rolling & Cutting: Once it is cool to handle, grease your hand with ghee and knead it two-three times, make a smooth dough. DO NOT over-knead it.
Now take a big piece of parchment paper. Put the dough ball on it and using your hand start patting and make a thick round patty. So now it will be easier to roll. Cover the dough with another piece of parchment paper and start rolling. The thickness should be ¼ inch to ⅓ inch. Do not roll it too thin. The circle was approx. 10-12 inches in diameter. IMPORTANT NOTE: do the kneading and rolling job while the dough is still warm. If it gets cool, it will start to set and becomes hard to roll.
using a knife cut into a diamond shape. Now let it cool completely and set. It may take around 5-10 minutes.
Now apply the silver leaf on top. This is optional but it looks good and just like the store-bought kind. Working with varak is very tricky, you have to be very careful and do not touch it with your hand.
Notes
Use the pulse button to grind the cashew nuts. If over-grinded then oil starts to ooze out from nuts and becomes slightly wet, moist. Here we want the powdered cashews. Use the food processor for this purpose.
Do not worry about the fine powder. Slightly coarse like semolina is perfectly fine.
Do not overcook the kaju katli mixture. Otherwise, the end product will become dry and hard.
Knead for few times is the key to get a smooth texture. But be careful not to over-work on the kneading process.
Do the kneading and rolling job while the dough is still warm (not cooled). Otherwise, it will be hard to roll properly. I highly recommend using parchment paper for rolling the dough. Alternately you can grease the work surface or large plate - tray (upside down) with ghee generously and roll on it. But sometimes it sticks to it even though it is greased well. So use parchment to make things easy.
To make it vegan, please use the coconut oil or soften margarine instead of ghee.