Ghee - Clarified Butter in under 5 minutes

If you have not cooked in ghee, you have not lived. Seriously, it is such a versatile component of Indian cooking. It’s got a mild nutty, sweet aroma, the missing link between great and fabulous. At least for me, a dollop of ghee goes a long way.

When I posted the picture of ghee in one of my photography forums on google plus, I was surprised to see that ghee is a regular in many homes, all over the world.

I have timed this post to make ghee from one stick of butter i.e 1/2 cup. It yields about the same amount of ghee, a whee bit less. So if you are going to make large amounts, more quantity, translate to more time. If you are making a big amount and storing it, (stays good for at least three months in a cool dry place) you could make it in a slower cooker too.  It’s going to be slow, duh! but you do not have to monitor it as much.

On popular demand from some of my readers, I am starting a new section on the blog: tutorials. Am not sure if I will be venturing into videos ( but never say never), I am trying to use slide shows, so bear with me if it’s not perfect, am learning as I go. This is the first time I have tried to make a slide show. There are so many options, I just tried smile box, I think it is pretty neat. Do let me know, if it does not load or you have tech issues. The font on the slide show is really small, there is no way to enlarge that, so you can also read the instruction on the post.

Turn timer on for five min.

Place butter ( one stick) in a saucepan or kadai over high heat.  Make sure you have enough room, if the butter bubbles up it might overflow and that is an ugly mess and scary too.

In about one and a half min the butter is almost melted, give it a stir and lower the heat to medium-low.

At the three min mark you see the bubbles forming, lower the heat to low and let it bubble for another  min.

Test if the ghee is done and the water part of the butter has evaporated, sprinkle some water, it should make a crackling noise, clearly showing you that all water from the butter has evaporated.

Shut the flame, the latent heat from the ghee will complete the cooking process, let it cool, strain and store in a dry container.

Your timer will still have about 1/2 to one min left :)

Here is the slide show to visually tell you the ghee making story.

Ghee has a low  high smoking point of 450-475 F, thank you foodie from Cooks memoir from letting me know.  Perfect as a dressing for curries, used in shallow frying like parathas and naans, and for seasoning. The reason why everything tastes so good with fat, has a lot to do with the science behind it. Flavor dissolves in fat, so when you add your masalas to ghee you know why it’s so flavorful. So next time, you add that dollop of ghee to your curry, you know why it is mouth watering good,  the flavors are dancing on your taste buds.