100th post: Ghee ( Clarified butter)

This is my hundredth post! I truly cannot believe that I have completed 100 posts on my blog!!! That too in less than nine months! To many bloggers out there, this may not be a big deal... But for me, it is! I never thought I would come this far! Like I have said before, blogging is hard work. Hats off to all the wonderful food bloggers out there who take the time to take pictures of their food and write about it. For me, as a working mom, it has been really hard to take the time to do my posts. I have had to stay up late after the kids have been cajoled into bed, wake up during the wee hours of the morning just to complete a post or to post something on time. The good part of it is the appreciation I have received from family and friends, recognition by many different organizations, making new friends with the wonderful people from the blogging world and last but not the least the immense amount of learning that occurs on a daily basis, in more ways than one!

I have given much thought to what I would write about for my hundredth post. I finally decided to go with something that is part of basic cooking skills: ghee or clarified butter. This is such an integral part of Indian cooking. Ghee that is sold at premium rates in stores like Trader's Joe, Whole Food etc. Did you know that ghee can be easily made at home?? All you need is butter! As simple as that. For time immemorial, ghee has been made at home in Indian households. I remember my mother collecting cream from boiled and cooled milk, storing it in the fridge, churning it and making butter and then converting that butter into ghee.

Let me share this simple method of making this liquid gold at home that is totally natural without any added preservatives or chemicals in it.

Servings: yields approzimately 700 ml of ghee.

Ingredient:

Unsalted Butter( sweet cream butter): 3 lbs

Method:

Take the butter in a thick-bottomed pot. 

Heat it on medium heat until it is completely melted.

 Once it melts, reduce the flame to the lowest possible and let it boil.

 It will start frothing. Continue boiling, stirring in between until the frothing stops, generally around 30-40 minutes. 

The liquid now is golden with a slightly dark residue at the bottom. Stop boiling at this point. Switch off the flame. 

Boiling any further will burn the milk solids that has separated and settled at the bottom .This will turn the color of the ghee brown instead of golden. 

Once the ghee has settled down/ cooled down a little, strain and pour it in a airtight container of your choice to be stored, ideally a glass jar of some kind. 

The dark residue will be left behind.

Can be stored at room temperature. Remains fresh for a month.I am bringing this to all my wonderful friends at Angie's Fiesta Friday. This week's co-hosts are Andrea@cooking with a wallflower and Sylvia@superfoodista.I look forward to these parties ...it is so much fun.If you haven't yet been there you should try it!

Cooking made easy:

Many people suggest the addition of clove, cinnamon stick, beetle-nut leaf during the last stage of ghee preparation to make it more aromatic. I sometimes add it. It is not a must. My mother sprinkles a little buttermilk when the bubbling has stopped and it has turned golden.  This also is supposed to make the ghee very aromatic.

Tip for healthy living:

For time immemorial, ghee has been use in everyday  Indian cooking. However over the years, people have shied away from ghee believing it to be fattening and rich in cholesterol thereby leading to heart-issues. Today how here butter is being promoted, ghee too is being promoted. Like anything else, anything when consumed in moderation does not cause ill effects on the body . Too much of anything is bad for the body. My kids are vegetarian an picky eaters. Hence I make sure I use ample amount of ghee in their food.
References:
http://www.ancientorganics.com/about-our-ghee/
http://creationbasedhealth.com/benefits-ghee-clarified-butter/
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/15-amazing-benefits-of-ghee.html

Food for thought:

The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion. Arnold H. Glasow

Basic Coconut Sauce( Masala/ masolu )for Konkani ( GSB) Dishes

Cooking Konkani food is super easy! I am talking about the South Canara Gowda Saraswath Brahmin ( GSB) cuisine.  This is a relatively small community of people who are konkan and originally were Kashmiri Pandits but migrated along the Saraswati river and settled along the konkan coast of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. Each group has been influenced by the local regional traditions and culture. Hence you will see konkans speaking different konkani and significant variations in their cuisine. Majority of the GSBs settled in the Udupi- Kundapur- Mangalore ( South Canara) region of Karnataka. Coming back to the cuisine,most of the dishes are coconut based and use coconut oil.

The most common gravy based curries (randayi)are called:

1.Ghashi :when tempered with mustard and curry leaves.
2.Ambat : when tempered with onions, and
3.Koddel :when tempered with garlic.
4.Sasam: when mustard seeds are added to the masala while grinding.

The most common dry side dishes are :

1. Sukke :when masala has oil- roasted urad dal in it.
2. Sagle :when masala has oil-roasted coriander and methi seeds in it.
3. Bhutti : when masala has oil-roasted coriander seeds in it.
4. Song :has nothing additional in the masala, but is cooked with saut�ed onions and is dry.

The common denominator is the basic coconut-red chilli-tamarind masala. Here is the recipe for the basic masala enough for one dish that would serve 4-6 people.

Ingredients:

Grated fresh coconut: 1 cup( from 1/4 coconut).
Dry Red chillies:4-5 nos ( depends on the spice level of; the chilly), roasted lightly in in 1/2 tsp oil.
Tamarind: marble sized if dry, 1/2tsp if pulp.
Water: 3/4 cup( could add more as needed).

Method:

Grind all the above ingredients in a blender using little water at a time into a fine paste.

You could use it immediately or store it in a airtight container in the freezer until you need it the next time. You could keep it in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Note:for the sukke masala, the coconut does not need to be ground to a fine paste. For everything else, it tastes best when the coconut is ground to a fine paste.

Cooking made easy:

The above coconut paste can be made from fresh or frozen grated coconut. If using frozen grated coconut, make sure that you thaw it to room temperature. Also, while grinding use lukewarm water.

Whenever I grate fresh coconut, I make sure I grind a batch of coconut masala enough for 3-4 different dishes and keep it in airtight containers in portions in the freezer. When needed, I just thaw a portion and add any additional ingredient if needed and blend it once or use it as is depending on what the recipe calls for.

Tip for healthy living:

In recent years, there was a huge uproar that coconut, coconut oil should be limited in your diet as it is a saturated fat and would increase the cholesterol in the body and clog your arteries. Many people I know either switched to "healthy" oils like canola or corn. I have always believed that the way our ancestors lived was a healthier way. They lived closer to nature, and had healthier eating habits. So I wondered could all out previous generations who cooked exclusively in coconut oil were all wrong? In fact my  mother eats exclusively eats food that has been cooked only in coconut oil . Any other oil upsets her stomach and makes her sick. We now understand that the whole"coconut oil is bad for you" was a myth propagated by the big companies who wanted to promote canola and corn oil industries. In fact canola and corn production is a big industry! Today, we know that health proponents are strongly promoting the use of coconut oil and sing praises of the health benefits of coconut. People are even encouraged to eat dry coconut pulp as a snack! Coconut is a great source of dietary fiber and vitamins C& B. It has healthy fats, breakdown of which might actually help the liver function more efficiently.

References:
http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/health_benefits_of_coconut_coconut_oil_coconut_milk_coconut_water_coconut_flour
http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/surprising-health-benefits-coconut-oil

Food for thought:

The best thing one can do when it is raining is to let it rain. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow