Home made Ghee / Clarified Butter

Ghee / Clarified butter is an important part of Indian food. If its the Parata dripping Ghee in Punjab, its the simple Avakaya (Aaam ka achar) + Steamed rice + ghee (Drooool). Somethings you cannot (should not) refuse in life, rather must never refuse. Trust me that is the best thing i have ever tasted in my life and this used to be my only food as a fussy eater when i was a kid. 

Ghee has a lot of benefits be it for skin or hair (just google and you can see the immense benefits!). The most interesting of all the benefits is "Ghee can help you reduce weight" YES!! that was not a typo, it can help you reduce Weight. Replacing the processed oils with simple homemade ghee can be a good start to the weight loss program. It will not happen overnight, but give it a 6-8 month trial and see, it might work. 

To make homemade Ghee, we will need to store the cream that comes when you boil milk, yes exactly that thin layer. Just keep collecting the cream in a jar once we have enough we can start the process! By the way, the fresh cream with a little sugar also tastes awesome! but today we will just learn to collect it and not eat it off!   

I can keep talking about how yummy Ghee is, how good it is for health and on and on..because i love the smell of it and i love how it can turn a dish into a rich and deeply delicious dish. If you are from south India you   will relate to the smell of melted ghee on top of plain daal and rice.. that is specially being made for the baby!! yummy is an understatement! 


What do we need to make Ghee / Clarified butter? 

• Milk Cream
• Spoon of curd
• 3-4 curry leaves 

How do We make Ghee / Clarified butter ?

Step 1:  Is to collect the cream that forms over the milk. When we boil milk and let it cool down you can see a thick layer of cream, move this to a container and refrigerate at all times. Using full cream milk helps collect thick cream. 

Step 2: Once you have enough cream, transfer it to a mixer jar, the long jar. And start to churn, add a little chilled water and a spoon of curd to this so it separates easily.  Once you see the butter separating from the butter milk, you can stop churning. 

This was one of the first challenges i faced when i started making Ghee...why is it taking so long? why is my butter not separating ? should i add more cold water? 

Step 3: Is to wash the butter, just drop the churned butter into a wide mouthed vessel and slowly wash, you can see the butter coming together. 

Step 4: Is to melt this , just add it to a thick bottom pan and let it bubble and melt. 

Step 5: As a optional addition, add a few curry leaves to the bubbling Ghee and turn off the gas before the ghee starts to burn. The trick is to look for the Fizzzy sound , once that stops you can turn off the gas. 

Step 6: Filter the ghee using a dedicated steel filter and store it for further use.  

Notes:
1. Remember to let the ghee cool down completely  before you put the lid on. 
2. Keep a close watch when melting the butter, as this can burn really quick. 
3. If you wish you can store the butter and use for baking or any other cooking purposes, but use this up within 2-3 days. 
4. The collected cream also should be used up within 10-12 days maximum. 
5. I have used full cream milk from Akshayakalpa, they supply with organic full cream milk, which  helps me collect enough cream in 10 days to make fresh ghee / Butter.