Homemade Ghee

We had some acquaintances over to dinner the other night.

One of the ladies saw that I was using ghee and she started talking to the other women about how she picked up a bottle of fragrant ghee at this high end organic foods store (for something like 8 or 9 bucks). Now no offense,  but I have experienced some of these ready made ghee's available in  the high end markets and all I can say is - close but no cigar!

I realized as I was stirring the dal that as long as one can get their hands on sweet cream butter (I bought 2 lbs on sale at 1.59/lb just to make ghee)  and stir a pot, you can get the most awesome, liquid, golden ghee in 30 minutes flat, for one-thirds the cost and double the quantity!

Now for those of you unfamiliar with ghee, it is also known as clarified butter and it is fantastic in  rice dishes, Indian cooking and makes a mean steak au poivre to tow -- you think I'm kidding - try it and see for yourself. I cook my steak with nothing but - and here's why. It has a much higher burning point, than  butter and I think of it as the 'clean fuel of cooking fat'. Good term, eh?

It has no strong discernible flavor so you can use it in just about anything - roasted veggies, roasted potatoes (to die for) and almost all Indian cooking - for which olive oil has too strong a flavor and scent.

Do you what my favorite food in ghee is? Fried eggs! Yummy!

warmly,

Devaki

Recipe for

Homemade Ghee

Start with 2 lbs of unsalted butter.

In a clean heavy bottomed, dry pan, place butter and begin melting on medium-high heat.

10 minutes later:

It looks like a cloudy yellow liquid with bubbles of milk solids on the surface.

Stir and walk away.

Another 15 minutes later:

It looks like a cloudy yellow liquid with surface milk solids diminishing.

Stir but DO NOT walk away - you're getting close.

In the last 5-10 minutes:

Notice how the butter turns more and more clear with lesser and lesser milk solids floating on top. Stir the ghee  regularly at this point. It will emanate a fragrant scent.

The ghee should have lots of very small clear bubbles at the surface. Remove immediately from the heat and allow it to cook completely

Allow it to sit for a few minutes to let the milk solid sediment settle to the bottom.

It is very important to use  a clean and 100% dry glass container with a lid.

Cook's Tip: If the container has any moisture or is unclean the ghee will spoil quickly so this is quite important. Also, use a glass container and stainless steel sieve. The ghee will be very hot and the utensils need to be able to handle the heat.

Using a stainless steel sieve, strain the ghee so the milk solids sediment collects in the sieve. Leave the lids off the containers until the ghee has cooled down completely - 4-5 hours or overnight. Once it cools completely the ghee will turn from clear to opaque.

Store Ahead Tips: Will survive indefinitely in the refrigerator. I am not kidding - when Mum visits, we make enormous batches  for a 2 years supply at a time!

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