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Ghee

Butter simmered until the solids settle, and only the clear fat is kept.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter).

Ingredients

Method

  1. BUTTER IS SIMMERED UNTIL THE SOLIDS SETTLE, AND ONLY THE CLEAR FAT IS KEPT. Its article gives the whole process in one sentence: ghee IS TYPICALLY PREPARED BY SIMMERING BUTTER, SKIMMING ANY IMPURITIES FROM THE SURFACE, THEN POURING AND RETAINING THE CLEAR LIQUID FAT WHILE DISCARDING THE SOLID RESIDUE THAT SETTLES AT THE BOTTOM. Three things leave: the water, the froth on top and the browned milk solids underneath. What is left keeps for months without a fridge, which is the whole reason the thing exists.
  2. USE UNSALTED BUTTER AND A HEAVY PAN. Salt concentrates as the water goes and ends up in the fat. A thin pan scorches the solids before the water has gone.
  3. MELT IT SLOWLY AND THEN LEAVE IT TO SIMMER. It will foam up noisily for ten or fifteen minutes -- that is the water boiling off -- and then go quiet. The quiet is the signal that the next stage has started.
  4. SKIM THE FROTH, BUT ONLY WHAT LIFTS EASILY. The article's word is impurities. Some of the foam sinks rather than rising and it is meant to: it becomes the residue at the bottom.
  5. WATCH THE SOLIDS AT THE BASE AND NOT THE CLOCK. They go from white to cream to pale gold to brown. Pull it off at gold for a mild ghee or let them go a shade darker for the nutty one. Thirty to forty minutes in all, and the last five decide what you get.
  6. THE OTHER TELL IS THAT IT GOES CLEAR. While water remains it is cloudy. When you can read the pattern on the base of the pan through the fat, it is done.
  7. LET IT STAND FIVE MINUTES, THEN POUR IT THROUGH MUSLIN WITHOUT STIRRING. Pour, do not scrape. Everything at the bottom stays at the bottom -- the article says to discard it, and it is also very good stirred into hot rice.
  8. STORE IT COVERED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. Its article notes ghee is made from cow or water buffalo milk and has been used in rituals for a very long time, and that the Dravidian languages take their word for it from a root meaning oil or ghee -- Tamil NEY, Malayalam NEYU, Telugu and Kannada NEYYI.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes