Ghee

What is Ghee: "Ghee" is a Sanskrit word for a clarified butter used primarily in Indian cuisine. Because the preparation of ghee involves heat, it has a distinctive toasted flavor, often described as nutty. Before the advent of commercial vegetable oils, ghee was widely used for deep frying. Unlike other butter-based products, ghee has a high smoking point and can be stored without refrigeration for weeks. As long as ghee is stored in air-tight containers, it does not spoil easily. Credits: wisegeek.com

How to make Ghee:

Ingredients
• 1 pound unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup of wheat/regular flour
• water to make firm dough

Directions:
• Take 1/2 cup of flour and some water to make firm consistency of dough. Make the dough and divide in to small balls.
• Place butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring butter to boil.
• This takes approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Once boiling, reduce heat to low.
• Add the balls of dough in to boiling butter. Dough balls are mainly for absorbing moisture in the butter.
• The butter will form a foam which will disappear. Ghee is done when the butter turns clear and golden. Approximately 10 minutes.
• From time to time, use a wooden spoon to gently stir the surface of the boiling butter to better check the transparency of the melted butter. Don't go deep with the wooden spoon; the purpose is not to stir but to check if the clarified butter is taking the lovely golden color so characteristic of ghee.
• As soon as it turns a beautiful golden color and begins to smell like popcorn, remove the ghee from the heat immediately. At this stage it can burn very quickly.
• Brown milk solids along with the balls of dough will be in bottom of pan.
• Gently pour into heatproof container through fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth.
• Discard the balls of cooked dough.
• Cool Ghee and store in airtight container being sure to keep free from moisture.
• Ghee does not need refrigeration and will keep in airtight container for up to 1 month.

Above recipe is modified to like my mom used to make from a recipe in food network by Alton Brown.

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Susy Morris
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