ROOKIE RASOIYA - Easy, Healthy, and Modern Indian Recipes for Beginners
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

How-To:  Make Homemade Ghee (Clarified Butter)

5/31/2015

1 Comment

 
Share
It has been a few weeks since I last posted, but I had a good reason:  my husband and I purchased and moved into our first home!  The past few weeks were stressful and busy, but buying your first home is such an exciting time, especially when you've spent the last 12 years in a dorm room or apartment.  My wonderful parents were nice enough to come help us set up and organize.  They also guided us through the Hindu ritual of blessing a new home, called grah pravesh.  As part of this ritual,one needs to make something sweet, and most Indian sweets require the use of ghee, or clarified butter.
Picture
The benefit to making your own ghee is that you can make as much as you would realistically use before it goes bad.  When you buy it at the store, it comes in a large jar and is typically more than I could ever use in 1 year.  When I make it at home, I only end up with about 6 ounces (three-fourths of a cup).  In my opinion, ghee gets a little bit of a bad rap.  Yes, some people use entirely too much ghee in their cooking, but when used sparingly ghee has some nice benefits, such as its high smoke point and its ability to last for months without refrigeration.

Making your own ghee is easier than you think:  all you need is high quality unsalted grass-fed butter.  You can easily find this in any grocery store.  The other tools you will need are a metal mesh strainer, a few pieces of cheesecloth, and an air-tight container in which to store the ghee.
Picture
To make ghee, start by unwrapping the butter and cutting into small square pats.  Add the butter to a small pot, preferably non-stick.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Heat the butter over medium-low heat until all the butter pats are dissolved into a liquid.  You can see in the picture below that the milk solids are sitting at the bottom of the pot as the butter begins to melt.
Picture
Picture
The butter will begin to bubble--ensure that the bubbling is more of a simmer than a boil.  If the butter begins boiling too vigorously, lower the heat.  Eventually a layer of foam will cover almost the entire surface of the butter.
Picture
Once the foam covers almost the entire surface of the butter, use a spoon to skim the foam off the surface.
Picture
In the photograph above, you can see the foam has been removed from the top of the butter, and you can once again see the milk solids at the bottom of the pot.  Now we will allow the butter to foam a second time, so again let the butter simmer until a foam appears at the surface of the butter.
Picture
You can see in the photograph above that the butter foamed a second time and covered almost half the surface of the butter.
Picture
And now that the foam has been removed, you can see the that the milk solids have become slightly browned pieces at the bottom of the pot.  The butter itself has turned from a golden yellow color to an amber color.  At this point, remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
Picture
Picture
While waiting for the ghee to cool, you can set up your strainer.  Cut a few squares of cheesecloth (I used 3) and place them inside a fine metal mesh strainer.  Once the ghee has cooled for 5 minutes, carefully (I wore oven mitts to prevent any burns), pour the ghee through the strainer into a measuring cup or directly into your air-tight container.
Picture
You can see that the cheesecloth and strainer have kept the milk solids out of the finished product.
Picture
Allow the ghee to cool to room temperature before sealing the air-tight container.  Keep the container of ghee in a dark place, such as inside a cupboard, for up to 3 months!
Picture

Ingredients (makes 6 oz of ghee):

  • 8 ounce package of high-quality unsalted grass-fed butter, such as Kerrygold brand

Kitchen Equipment:

  • 8 ounce air-tight container
  • Fine mesh metal strainer
  • Cheesecloth
  • Non-stick pot

Directions:

  1. Cut the butter into square pats.  Place the pats into the pot over medium-low heat.
  2. Allow the butter to melt completely.  The butter will begin to bubble--it should be more of a simmer than a boil.  If the butter is bubbling too vigorously, lower the heat.
  3. After a few minutes, a foam will appear on the surface of the butter.  After the foam covers most of the surface of the butter, use a spoon to remove the foam.
  4. Allow the butter to bubble and produce a second foam.  Again, after the foam covers almost half the surface, use a spoon to remove the foam.
  5. Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
  6. While the butter cools, cut 3 to 4 squares of cheesecloth and place these squares on top of one another inside the mesh strainer.
  7. Once the butter has cooled, pour the butter through the cheesecloth and strainer into either a measuring cup or directly into the air-tight container.  You should see the remaining milk solids caught in cheesecloth.
  8. Allow the ghee to cool to room temperature and then close the air-tight container. 
  9. Keep the container of ghee in a dark place, such as a cupboard, for up to 3 months.
1 Comment
itsPotluck link
6/1/2015 01:28:55 pm

Hello there Rookie Rasoiya (cool name BTW)

We came to know you from Instagram. You have a great blog with some great recipes and awesome photography. I am reaching out to you from www.itspotluck.com a social platform for Indian/Desi food lovers. It is a community of hundreds of food bloggers with thousands of recipes and counting. You might find some fellow bloggers from India and abroad as well on our platform.

The current services are just a beginning and we will be adding additional functionalities that will truly make this a global platform for Indian food.

We hope you like what we are presenting and would join our growing community of Indian food lovers. Don’t wait - join today. Our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/its.Potluck is frequently updated with food related news and exciting recipes so stay connected via facebook as well.

If you face any challenges in registering please contact us at comments@itspotluck.com

Thank you and looking forward to having you as part of itsPotluck community.

Please ignore this email if you are already a member.

itsPotluck
www.itspotluck.com

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Beverages
    Breakfastbrunch
    Condiment
    Cooking Basics
    Dessert
    Gluten Free
    Main Dish
    Non Vegetarian
    Side Dish
    Slow Cooker
    Soup
    Vegan
    Vegetarian

    Archives

    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Author

    Exploring Indian cuisine and trying to learn the recipes of my family. I hope to help and inspire others along the way.

    Picture
    Follow me on:
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.