Indian cooking is unimaginable without ghee or clarified butter. Puris, parathas, kulchas and main course meals are cooked in ghee. It is used as spread on rotis or chapattis.
The best ghee can be obtained only in case you have best milk supply at home. The milk should have enough cream. Following procedure could help in obtaining the best clarified butter.
Collect a liter of cream from milk. I collect the cream from milk every day. After collecting for odd ten days and storing in a cold storage or freezer, I remove on the day when the container seems to be full. If possible, collect a liter of cream from the milk on the day when you wish to make ghee.
I would advise for a container full of yoghurt too. I have found sour yoghurt, best for churning. Thus, keep yoghurt in open; out of the refrigerator for at least few hours. Its smell would indicate it has become sour and if required you can taste too.
Take a churning equipment. You can use hand-held churning device. I prefer a blender that has a churning blade. If the blender could accommodate, pour the cream and yoghurt together. If it's not possible, then pour in proportion, for instance 1: 1.For a tablespoon of cream, take one tablespoon of yoghurt. After adding them together, churn for 2-4 minutes. When you open the lid of blender, you could see the butter floating above.
Remove the butter and place the same in a non-stick container. Repeat the process till you get the final drop of butter. The remaining liquid could be drunk or used in the form of buttermilk. You could also use it for making curry or yoghurt-based dishes.
Switch on the burner and let the butter melt. Start stirring in a circular manner so that butter gets melted. While heating, the liquid would start coming up in the form of bubbles. Make sure, it doesn't pour out of container. Keep stirring for some time. Soon, you would see the froth settling down. Stop stirring and leave the container on burner in simmer position. As soon as you sense a smell (an aroma typical of ghee), switch off the burner. Let the liquid settle and cool for some time.
You would see the oily liquid floating above the solid remains. Take a strainer and strain out the clear liquid. This liquid is, in fact, the pure clarified butter. It would be pure white in color in case buffalo milk is used. It would appear in yellow where cow's milk is used. It has a typical taste quite different from butter or cream. Apart from a variety of Indian bread, Indian veg and non-veg dishes are often prepared in clarified butter.
Well, what are you waiting for? Make and serve the best Indian cuisine in home-made ghee.
Neerja Mehta is a freelance food article writer and contributed food articles on various websites. Visit http://www.neerjamehta-foodblog.blogspot.in to read articles on food and drink.
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