Confusion Cook

This is not as easy as it sounds, well atleast for me. How many times I promised V in last 5 yrs that I’ll give you home made butter & how many times it didn’t happen. Like all food items, V loves home made butter & I have only managed to start churning it in the last few months. So ladies like me who struggle with it or would like to learn it, here are few pointers.

Home made Buttermilk, Butter, Ghee, Chenna -

Recipe Source – My Mother

Ingredients -

Full Cream Milk

Curd
Cold Water/ Ice

Method -

1. Boil milk. Allow it to cool down. Don’t touch the top layer of milk. Refrigerate it.
2. After few hours of refrigeration, the top layer will firm into thick cream.
3. Gently remove the cream & store in a separate bowl.
   

   Cream/ Malai

4. Repeat this process till you have collected enough quantity of cream. (1 litre boiled milk should give around 250 ml of cream in 7-8 days)
5. Boil the collected cream & allow it to cool little. When it is cooled just enough for setting of curd, add 2 tsp of curd into it and mix well.
6. Allow the cream to set just like curd in a warm place.
7. When the cream is set, refrigerate it.

Buttermilk & Butter – My mother has a special local contraption for churning butter -which is motorised ‘churni’. She has placed it on a big container, ideally use a vessel which gives support at the rim.

Churning Butter

1. Remove the set cream and churn in a blender.
2. After few mins, the cream will start separating and you will see butter. Add little water if required to separate.
3. The butter & milk should be clearly separated.
4. In a wok, take about 1/2 glass of chilled water or ice & remove the butter & put in it.
   

   Butter & Buttermilk

5. Quickly rinse of the butter in this water & pour the water in the buttermilk.
6. You can garnish buttermilk with seasoning (ghee, cumin seeds, salt, mint leaves) & serve or plain.
7. Use butter as desired.

Tip -

•   Weather/ Temperature determines this process: In winter like north, use room temp water for all steps. In summer, you would need chilled water or ice for separating & washing.

Ghee/ Chenna-

Clarified Butter & Chenna

1. If you do not wish to use butter for any other use, put this in a wok & allow it to heat.
2. Slowly, the water content will evaporate leaving behind ghee or clarified butter.
3. Residue will dry & become elastic & chewy chenna.
4. Do not allow the chenna to burn or get excessively brown, my mother’s got slightly more brown than desired.
5. Strain the ghee into the desired container. Allow it to cool completely. Use as desired.
6. Remove the chenna from strainer & use it to knead parantha dough. This yields a soft & crumbly parantha with rich taste.
7. Alternatively you can create after meal snack from this chenna by simply adding powdered sugar to it. Kids love it & it becomes a wonderful on the go snack.

You can discard any of the by-product you like but I like being judicious. I guess you can put it on my mom inculcating ‘Don’t waste unnecessarily’. I just love the thought of using a product & all its by-products (milk-curd-cream-butter-buttermilk-ghee-chenna).