To make ghee
Why I Love This Recipe
This is a basic ingredient in all good Indian cooking, and although I am writing from South Africa we have a large Indian community which has developed some of its own idiosyncrasies over the years. It is, in fact, clarified butter cooked longer than the rench do it, so it aquires a delicious nutty, toasted flavour. It is also fequently spiced variously by individual cooks. It keeps for ever in a cool dark space.
Ingredients You'll Need
1 lb (500 g) best butter
3 green cardamom seeds, crushed in a mortar (optional)
2 cloves (optional)
Directions
Melt and heat the butter (with or without the spices - I sometimes do both or one or none)in a saucepan over medium heat.
"Cook" until the residue at the bottom of the pan turns a mellow brown (sometimes you have to brush aside the foam to check this), but be careful not to burn the butter.
This all takes quite a while, so patience and a wary eye are in order.
Let it cool down and pour it through cheesecloth in a sieve into a glass bottle.
As I said, this keeps wellnigh for ever in a cool cupboard.
Use it as the basic frying medium for curried foods, and also fry it with mustard seeds or/and thinly sliced garlic or/and cumin seeds to pour over yoghurt "salads" ("raitas") as lavishly as you dare to.