Making butter and ghee at home

 It is believed that ancient nomadic people first discovered the miracle of butter. While travelling long distances, nomads would attach sacks containing milk to their pack animals and the cream was eventually churned into butter.

 Letting the cream ferment with live bacteria before churning creates a tangy version called cultured butter. Cultured butter is creamy, more buttery in flavour. Cultured or fermented dairy products contain lactic acid-producing bacteria that begin to break down both lactose (milk sugars) and casein (milk proteins), which aids in digestion. These helpful bacteria strengthen our immune system, checks pathogenic bacteria from multiplying and helps digest our food. 

In Indian culture, the cow is considered sacred; cow represents the soul, and it is gentle and generous. The butter it gives is a sacred offering, fuel for lamps, and treasured food. Krishna worshippers have special love for cows. The Hindu god's role as a cowherd, and stories about his love of butter are legendary. He is lovingly called "Makhan chor." This means, "butter thief."

Ingredients

4 cups Milk cream

1 tbsp yoghurt

Method of preparation

-         To get good amount of thick cream and later butter, full fat, unhomogenized (pasteurized is ok), non UHT milk should be used.   I boil full cream milk in the morning, cool and keep in the refrigerator uncovered till evening. Then a thick layer of milk cream will be formed on the surface. This I carefully remove and keep in the freezer.

-          In 15 days I get about 4 cups of cream. Then I take it out of the freezer in the morning and leave outside to bring it to room temperature.

-          In the evening I add 1 tablespoon of yoghurt and mix well, close and leave till next day morning.

-          In the morning I use the churner or wooden hand blender and move it clockwise in the vessel containing the milk cream. In just about 8 to 10 rotations, the butter will form in lumps. You can do this in a blender also. I find using blender  and cleaning it later cumbersome.

                                                                 Wooden hand blender

-         Now I add cold water from the refrigerator and use the churner for just about 5 seconds. The butter forms huge lumps, which is taken out and is ready for use.

-          For making ghee, the butter is kept in a thick bottomed pan on low fire. 

It should be stirred in between and when the light brown colored milk solids settle down, and the surface is filled with bubbles, remove from fire.

-          The ghee is strained, cooled and stored in an airtight container at room temperature. It should not be refrigerated. The separated solid can be eaten as such (I love it), or after adding sugar, or used to make sweets.

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) Paratha

Crispy parathas stuffed with spicy soft cottage cheese served with green chutney and butter is one of my favourite breakfast items.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups wheat flower (for 2 parathas)

Salt to taste

½ tsp ajwain seeds

4/4 cup warm water

For filling:

5 tbsps grated paneer

½ tsp ginger cut fine

1/3 tsp finely cut green chilli OR ¼ tsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp cut coriander leaves

Instruction

-          Knead the wheat flour with salt, ajwain and water into somewhat stiff dough.

-          Mix all the ingredients for the filling. I don’t add salt to this as it makes it soggy while filling.

-         Divide the dough into two, spread each one into a round, put the filling inside, bring the periphery together, flatten and gently spread into a larger round.

-          Heat thava on medium heat and cook the paratha from both sides, applying ghee.

-          Serve with coriander mint chutney and butter, or tomato ketchup.

 

  

Raw Papaya Chutney (Kacha Papaya Sambharo)

Raw papaya chutney is a tongue tickling Gujarati dish that is served with fafda. I loved it with jowar roti and dal.

Ingredients

2 cups of peeled, grated raw papaya

1 tbsp oil

A pinch of asafoetida

1/3  tsp mustard seeds

Salt to taste

½ tbsp sugar

½ tsp turmeric powder

¼ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp coriander powder

1 tsp lemon juice

Instruction

-          Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add asafoetida.

-          Toss in the grated papaya, sauté for about 4 minutes on medium to high flame.

-          Add all other ingredients except lemon juice. Sauté again for 4 minutes and remove from fire.

-          Pour the lemon juice and mix well. It is ready to be served.

Mishti Doi (Bengali Sweet Yoghurt)

 

Ingredients

3 cups of milk (for 2 cups of mishti doi)

2 ½ tbsps sugar (Traditionally palm jaggery is used)

2 tsps of yoghurt culture

A few strands of saffron

6 almonds slivered

Instruction

-          Keep three cups of milk to boil, reduce the flame once it starts boiling. When it boils for about 5 minutes, add the sugar and stir well.

-          Stir in between and let it simmer till it reduces in volume to two cups.

-          Let it cool to lukewarm temperature, pour into two bowls. Add 1 tsp of yoghurt culture into each bowl and stir well.

-          Keep in a warm place for about 12 hours for it to set, put some saffron strands on the top and refrigerate.

-          While serving, add the slivered almonds.

 

Apple pie

 

Many years back when we visited our Swedish friends in Stockholm, she served us Leek pie and apple pie for dinner. I took the recipe from her and they became frequent dishes at home. Children relished both.

Ingredients

4 medium sized apples

1 ¼ cup sugar

1 egg

½ tsp allspice powder

For the pie shell:

170 gms refined flour

A pinch of salt

2 tsps sugar

½ cup solidified ghee

¼ cup water

Instruction

-          Peel and grate the apples, add sugar and keep on low fire.

-         Let it cook and get thicker in consistency. Remove from fire and keep aside to cool. 

-         Meanwhile start making the pie shell. Sieve the flour, add salt, sugar and ghee.

-          Mix in the ghee to the flour with a fork till it resembles bread crumbs.

-           Slowly keep adding water and knead into smooth dough. Take 1/8 of the dough and keep aside. Spread the dough into round and slowly put it inside an oiled pie dish. Prick the entire surface with a tooth pick.

-           Now beat the egg and add to the cooled, cooked apple, along with the allspice powder.

-          Spread it inside the shell.

-          Flatten the dough kept aside, make into strips and put it over the pie in any design you like

-          Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 35 minutes.

-          Cut into wedges and serve. Ice cream goes very well with this. For me it tastes better on the next day.

 

Mung dal (green gram) chila with leaves

 Fresh leaves from your garden, like drumstick leaves, brahmi leaves and amaranth leaves can be added to dal, any sabzis and dosa or chila batter to increase the nutritional and prana values. In this preparation I added drumstick leaves, brahmi leaves and green amaranth leaves to the chila batter.

Ingredients

- 1 ½ cups yellow mung dal soaked for about 4 hours (for 8 chilas)

- Salt to taste

- A pinch of asafoetida

- 1 ½ tsp cumin seeds

- ¼ tsp turmeric powder

-  ¼ tsp red chilli powder

- 2 tbsps of finely cut leaves

- 2 tbsps ghee

Instruction

-          Grind all the first six ingredients to a slightly rough consistency with enough water.

-          Add the finely cut leaves and mix well.

-          Pour a ladleful of batter and spread into round onto a ghee smeared hot thava kept on medium flame.

-          When it is cooked, pour some ghee over the top, turn it upside down and cook for some more time to make it crispy.

-          Serve with chutney, pickle or tomato ketchup.

 

Wheat Flour Halwa-2

 

This is an easy to make delicious dish that can accompany uppittu for breakfast, or with the evening tea.

Ingredients

-          1 ¼ cups wheat flour

-          1 cup ghee

-          1 cup sugar

-          2 cups water

-          ¼ tsp cardamom powder

Instruction

-          Put the ghee in a thick bottomed pan kept on fire and add the wheat flour.

-          Meanwhile add sugar to the water in another vessel and keep on high flame. When it boils, lower the flame and let it keep simmering.

-          Keep stirring the wheat flour ghee mix on medium flame to prevent sticking to the bottom and burning. When it turns dark brown in color and aroma starts coming (in about ten minutes), reduce the flame and slowly add the sugar syrup (after adding cardamom powder) while stirring continuously.  

-          When it becomes halwa consistency, remove from fire and serve.