Ghee (Traditional Method)

Homemade Ghee...also known as clarified butter. It's used mostly in Indian and Middle Eastern cooking. Cooking traditional dishes with ghee enhances the aroma and flavor of the dish. Though ghee is readily available in the market, my mother always made fresh ghee at home. This is something that I learnt from her and have realized that homemade Ghee is truly special and more rich and flavorful than store bought ghee.

I had earlier shared an easy method of making Ghee on this blog.
https://tastebuds1.blogspot.com/2010/03/ghee.html

In the easy method, store bought butter was used to make the ghee.

Today, Im sharing the traditional method used by my mother and grandmother to make ghee at home regularly for years. I have been using this method and though its a little time consuming and a bit messy, the end result is totally worth it !!!

Skim off the cream from boiled milk and place it in an airtight container. On the 1st day, add some plain curd/yoghurt to this cream and let this sit at room temperature for 8-10 hrs.
NOTE: The yoghurt is to be added only on the 1st day.

Cream on boiled milk

From the following day, add skimmed cream to the container everyday till it gets filled. Keep this container in the freezer. It takes about 2 weeks for my container to get filled.

Once the container is full, remove it from the freezer and keep it at room temperature to thaw for about 3-4 hrs.

Add this cream in batches to your blender and churn out the butter from the cream. Separate the butter from the buttermilk and add the butter to a thick bottomed deep-dished pan.

Cook on slow/medium heat stirring occasionally.

A thick layer forms as the butter starts cooking. As it cooks, the foamy layer will reduce and you will see the golden layer of ghee at the bottom of the pan.
Once the milk solids turn brown, the ghee is ready. Let it cool for a few minutes.

Ghee

Using a tea strainer, strain the ghee from the milk solids into a clean dry bottle/container.
As the ghee cools, it will solidify.
Store in the refrigerator for longer shelf life.

Enjoy with hot rice or roti and paratha