Culinary Adventures

Making ghee at home is very easy and after tasting the one made at home you will never again buy any from the store.

Initially when I came to the US I used to try collecting the cream from the milk as we did in India to make ghee. After a while I gave up hopes on that, for the simple reason that if I tried boiling milk it would stick to the bottom of the pan and cleaning it used to be a major task.

Now I use store bought butter to make my ghee. You can really use any butter. I use the Kirkland brand butter. It’s salted but all the salt settles down and the final ghee does not contain any salt.

Ingredients

4 bricks – butter

1  tsp – menthulu ( methi seeds, fenugreek seeds)

Method

Put the butter in a large pot ( I use a non stick stockpot ). You can cut up the butter a bit if you want. I just put in the whole bricks and melt the butter on medium heat.

Keep stirring occasionally until all the butter has melted.

Add the menthulu ( fenugreek seeds ) and continue cooking on medium heat.

A scum usually forms on the ghee and then begins to clear out and settle down at the bottom of the pan.

When most of the scum has settled down the Ghee is ready.  You will also be able to tell by the fragrant smell of the ghee. 

Strain the ghee into glass jars or ceramic containers. The ghee is very hot so make sure you put it in heat resistant containers.

Let it cool and then close the lid. 

Notes:

The fenugreek seeds are optional, but I love the flavor and scent that they add to the ghee. 

Making of ghee is an easy but time consuming process.  Do not try to hasten the process by increasing the heat applied. The ghee needs to be slow cooked.

I have never had to refrigerate the ghee I made.  I have always put the ghee on the counter in a corner away from any heat source. It has lasted for over six months without any problem.

Tags: ghee, homemade ghee, clarified butter, indian recipes, andhra recipes

                            

This entry was posted on Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.