philosokitchen

an italian cook around the world

  • Home
  • recipes
    • My Authentic Italian Recipes
    • appetizers
    • pasta rice & Co.
    • entrées
    • sides
    • desserts
    • Soups
    • salads
    • sauces & jarred goods
    • slow cooked
    • FASTER THAN 45 MIN
    • vegetarian
    • vegan
    • gluten free
    • paleo
  • travelogs
    • foodie travels
    • chronicles of italian cooks
  • food story
  • ABOUT ME
  • RECIPE DISCLAMER
  • PRIVACY POLICY
You are here: Home / Food Story / GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY – Indian clarified butter

GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY – Indian clarified butter

02/21/2017 by Filippo Trapella 1 Comment

Indian Ghee butter is the most traditional seasoning of the Asian sub-continent, thanks to its flavor and properties. Cooking indian recipes like curries and Dal, the use of this fat is essential, and give an unique mark. Homemade ghee is very easy to make and, contrary of the commercial version, it is tastier, so I strong recommend to try it on once in your life!

GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY - Indian clarified butter

If you like this recipe, please click here, leave a comment and vote 5 stars!
This simple action helps the growth of this blog and make me very happy 🙂

WHAT IS GHEE BUTTER?

Ghee is a process to clarify butter, according to an ancient technique created in India, later spread quickly in large part of Asia and the Middle East, thanks to its supposed healing capacity, and long self life at room temperature.

Like the western clarified butter, ghee is ideal for cooking at high temperature. The absence of casein and water, in fact, let the butter reach up to 390° F (200° C) without burn. Another characteristic of this butter is the caramelized flavor. On the contrary of Western clarified butter, ghee is delicious also just smeared on bread slices!

GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY - Indian clarified butter

GHEE BUTTER INTO THE INDIAN CULTURE AND RELIGION

Indian ghee is a derivative of the cow, the sacred animal in the Hinduism religion. The use of this butter into the religious rituals dates back to 3000 BC, as fuel for traditional lamps called Dipa.

Ghee butter is considered purify of any impurities, and essential in the Ayurvedic medicine were is indicated as a powerful Rasayana (lengthening lifespan). The healing properties attributed by the alternative medicine are against infertility problems, nervous system problems, and digestive disturbance. These alleged properties are not recognized by the conventional medicine, but one characteristic is unquestionable: it’s so good!

GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY - Indian clarified butter

COMMERCIAL GHEE VS HOMEMADE GHEE

Commonly, the industrial preparation of ghee butter is different from the homemade method. First, the butter is melted at 113° F (45° C), then centrifuged to eliminate all the water, and the proteins, and the lactose. Eventually, heated at 212° F (100° C) to let any traces of water evaporate. In this case, the caramelized flavor, typical of the homemade ghee, is less intense.

GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY - Indian clarified butter

CLARIFIED BUTTER INTO INTERNATIONAL CUISINES

Besides Indian Ghee, clarified butter is popular in several cuisines.

The Western-style clarified butter is perfect to fry respecting the original taste of food. Its flavor is neutral and close to the original taste of the butter, but permit to reach high temperatures, and its mandatory for several European traditional recipes, for instance, Italian “Cotoletta alla Milanese”.

Ethiopian clarified butter is named Niter Kibbeh and used to fry chicken and other meats. The fat of the butter is separated from water and proteins, then flavored with garlic, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, and other spices.

Smen is another version of African clarified butter. It’s hailing from Morocco and prepared with cinnamon, oregano and coriander seeds. It is the main seasoning of couscous.

GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY - Indian clarified butter

INDIAN GHEE BUTTER RECIPE

5.0 from 1 reviews
GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY - Indian clarified butter
 
Print
Prep time
5 mins
Cook time
2 hours
Total time
2 hours 5 mins
 
Author: Filippo Trapella - philosokitchen.com
Recipe type: seasoning
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
  • 18 sticks - 72 oz (2 kg) unsalted butter
Instructions
  1. To make ghee butter easily, you want to use a cooking thermometer and a thick-bottomed heavy pot.
  2. First, melt all the butter into a pot over medium heat.
  3. Now, let the butter reach slowly 212° F (105° C) and the water evaporate. Discard the foam with a slotted spoon once at a time.
  4. Once the water is almost entirely evaporated, the temperature raise automatically.
  5. Starting from 248° F (120 °C) the color of the butter commences to become darker, and the casein caramelizes.
  6. Let the butter reach a temperature between 175° F (135° C) and 184° F (140° C), then the sift the butter through a sieve lined with cheesecloth and store into jars.
  7. Once reached room temperature the ghee solidify and it is ready to use!
3.5.3226

Did you like this recipe? please, click here, leave a comment and vote 5 stars!
This simple action helps the growth of this blog and make me very happy 🙂

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS

INDIAN RED LENTILS DAL (masoor dal)

INDIAN RED LENTILS DAL (masoor dal)

GHEE BUTTER RECIPE & HISTORY - Indian clarified butter

Filed Under: Food Story, Gluten Free, Paleo, Recipes, Sauces & Jarred Goods, Vegetarian Tagged With: butter, caramelized, cinnamon, clarified butter, Indian, Indian ghee, seasoning, spices

« BRACIOLE NEAPOLITAN-STYLE recipe & history – all you need to know!
STRUFFOLI RECIPE AND HISTORY – traditional Italian honey balls »

Comments

  1. Heets Abu Dhabi says

    04/07/2021 at 2:09 am

    Thank you so much for this interesting article. ! So helpful!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Rate this recipe:  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



























Newsletter

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Child Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress