homemade ghee/desi ghee at home

Making ghee at home / Making ghee from butter

Coming ahead is the festive season of Dussehra and the preparations are going on at a fast pace in my house. The first thing that comes to mind about the festivals is the dishes that are to be prepared for the holiday season. And the most important ingredient that is required for any festive dishes or Naivedhyam recipes is authentic ghee.

I love to prepare ghee at home which is fresh and so pure. Preparing homemade ghee is so easy and nice. You can prepare it with either store bought butter or homemade butter. I prepare ghee from scratch at my home.

I use ghee extensively. So I always tend to prepare ghee at home and store it for future use. I prepare ghee almost 2-3 times a month. And whenever I have excess of ghee with me, I give it to my mom-in-law and sis-in-law. They just love it. And the funny thing is that, when my mom has excess of homemade ghee, she gives it to me. So, I always have ghee in my pantry.

The texture and the taste of store bought ghee varies from that of the homemade ghee. Moreover, I found that all the processed foods that are available in the market are adulterated with some or the other ingredients that are unhealthy for us. The texture of the homemade ghee is grainy and has a heavenly taste. I use ghee whenever required, for pulav, upma, sweets, in dals, and almost any dish. I even use ghee for the preparation of some curries as well. I like the flavour of any dish when it is prepared with ghee rather than oil. Hence I generally use ghee instead of oil for some dishes.

  

Preparation

Separate cream from milk and collect it in a bowl. After the first addition of cream add little curd so that the cream curdles and the cream doesn’t get spoiled. Collect the cream everyday religiously for 10 days. After 10 days or when the bowl is full, mix the cream well and keep it out overnight.

In the morning, when the cream has got curdled well, put it back in the refrigerator. Allow it to become chilled. When you are ready to prepare the butter, remove from the fridge and rest it for 5 minutes. If you start preparing immediately after removing from the fridge, then your hands will get hurt because it is very cool. So just rest for 5 minutes. But make sure that you prepare the butter when it is cool and not warm or at room temperature. Butter is formed faster when the cream is cool. Transfer the curdled cream into a bigger vessel and put your hand it the vessel.

Keep rotating your hand in a circular motion at a fast speed.

Continue rotating your hands until you feel the butter is formed. And moreover, you will not feel the stickiness on your hands.

At this stage, the butter is formed. Add water, and remove the butter into another bowl.

Collect the butter in a thick bottomed pan or vessel and put the vessel on medium flame. If you are preparing ghee from store bought butter, then you can start the procedure from here. 

Melt the butter on a low flame and keep an eye on it.

Sometimes, the butter tends to overflow the vessel, so always keep an eye on it. When it is about to overflow, gently mix the butter with a spoon until it settles down. Allow it to cook slowly. Initially you will see small bubbles on the top layer.

Gradually the bubbles will increase and ...

the white portion on the top layer disappears and becomes ghee.

Cook until the bottom layer becomes brown in colour ( not black ).

Now, immediately switch off the flame and allow it to cool completely. When the ghee comes to room temperature then transfer to a glass jar or a plastic airtight container. Flavourful homemade ghee is ready.

Ingredients

Cream of milk of 10 days  ( OR ) Store bought butter

Method

1. Collect the milk cream in a bowl. Add little curd to it and put it in the fridge.
2. Keep collecting the cream in the bowl for 10 days. 
3. When the bowl is full, mix the cream well and keep it out at room temperature overnight.
4. In the morning, put the bowl back in the fridge and allow it to become chilled.
5. When it is chilled, remove from the refrigerator and rest it for 5 minutes.
6. Now out your hand in the bowl and rotate your hand in circular motion at the maximum speed possible.
7. After 5 minutes of rotating, you will find the small balls of butter forming and you will fell less stickiness.
8. At this stage, add water and remove the butter to another bowl. This is homemade butter.
9. Now, put this bowl of butter on a medium flame. 
10. Cook on a low to medium flame until the ghee is formed on the top layer and the bottom layer becomes brown in colour.  
11. Now immediately switch off the flame and allow to cool. 
12. When it comes to room temperature, transfer to a glass jar or plastic container and store it at room temperature for future use.

Notes

• It is always advisable to use the cream of full fat milk to get the best ghee.  
• If you use cream of full fat milk, then you get the butter in less than 4 minutes of rotating. 
• You can also prepare ghee in a blender which I will be sharing in another post.
• This homemade ghee can be stored for months to come.