How to make Ghee/Clarified butter (Ghee Whiz!)

Hello, friends.  First, I want to apologize for a lack of posts and for a lack of reading and commenting on my fellow foodies' blogs -- today is day 22 of my no-day-off-marathon, so needless to say I've been quite buy.  I've bee making a lot of green veggie soups and throwing them in the blender because they need little attention to make, and sneaking off to the twice-weekly farmers' markets that just moved outside.  The good news is that my work marathon is only temporary -- after the second week of June, I'll have a a more manageable schedule -- just in time to enjoy the weekly CSA food share Andrew and I signed up for.  I'm really excited to get back on to a local diet again.

Since making the batch of kitcheri last week, one things I've been longing to do is make by own ghee.  Ghee is clarified butter, which essentially means that it's been removed of any impurities due to a boiling process. Ghee is another medicinal food, much like kitcheri.  The science of ayurveda recommends both ghee and kitcheri as balancing of all three doshas.  Ghee stands up to high heat cooking, which  makes it perfect for stir-fries. Before really thinking about the heat point of certain oils, I would use olive oil almost exclusively.  As someone with 100% Italian background (although I'm American olive oil seems to just work well with me -- I love how it tastes, and it never feels too greasy.  Then I realized that using it at such a high heat took away a lot of its health values.  That's when I started experimenting with ghee.  both nutty and nourishing, in ayurveda ghee is recommended for those with lactose intolerance, since all the lactose is boiled out.  Ghee is also free of hydrogenated oils, and is said to to aid with digestion, sitting lightly in the stomach instead of heavily like butter and other oils.  Ayurveda also recommends ghee for memory retention, healing inflammation, and in raising the resistance of the immune system.

If you live near an Indian store of even Whole Foods, you should be able to find ghee packaged in jars, unrefrigerated. 

If you're feeling adventurous, or want to use locally made or organic butter, or just plain want to experiment, here's how you can go about making your own ghee.

Clarified butter/Ghee

Start with a pound (4 sticks) of the highest quality butter possible.  Place the butter in a heavy bottomed pot, and allow it to melt over low-medium heat.

It will simmer and bubble for about 25 minutes -- this timing varies a bit depending on how much water is in the butter. You will know its ready to come off the burner when the milk solids brown and have stuck to the sides of bottom of the pan, and the butter has almost stopped bubbling.  It's important to stay with the pan for most of this process, especially towards the end.  There's not much time between the ghee being ready or being burnt.  Next, using a cheese-cloth lined mesh strainer, strain your ghee into a glass  bowl, letting the heavier solids stay in the pan.



 

Let cool, and transfer into a glass jar.  It will be solid, almost like coconut butter.  I found an old glass miso jar to be the perfect size for keeping ghee.  You don't need to refrigerate ghee -- it shouldn't go bad for 6 months.

Once you've made ghee, you can use it in many dishes.  It's classically used in kitcheri, but you can use it to flavor plain rice, quinoa, or amaranth. Spread it on (gluten-free) toast, or stir-fry vegetables with ti.  Add a bit to soup, or add a different flavor to risotto by replacing the butter with ghee.  I think ghee pairs nicely with the kale, asparagus, and peas that spring has made more available lately.

Have you cooked with ghee before?  What did you make?

ALSO!  Check out my guest post at Rachel's awesome blog -- The Avid Appetite