How to make Desi Ghee from daily used milk cream

Now-a-days we have observed that kids are not taking milk at night or day with cream/malai (Outer Layer of Milk). My kid also do not take the Malai – so I have to remove it before he drinks. One of my friends gave an idea of making ghee out of this creamy part of milk which is anyway was being wasted. I experimented few times and perfected my recipe. Today I thought of explaining in a step-by-step way. I am sure this blog post will benefit a number of people. 

 

Preparation Time: 30-40 min

 

Servings: 150-200 ml. Ghee.

 

Ingredients:

Cream collected from milk.
3 tablespoon of curd/unflavored natural yogurt

Procedure:

1)      Collect the cream of milk (malai) in a container, preferably a glass container. The cream shown below is collected over 12-15 days. Store the collected milk cream in deep fridge (the upper part of the fridge) to ensure that it does not get rotten.

2)      The day you want to make ghee just take out your collection of malai and add unflavored natural yogurt / curd. Keep aside for 4~6 hours. If you live in cold place then increase the time you keep aside as this will help fermentation and increase the amount of ghee production

3)      Now pour the contents of the container in a food processor / mixer. Fix the blade used to blend and keep it on speed 1 for 5 minutes.

4)      You will see that the butter is separated from the milky water or whey. The milky water is known as buttermilk and the solidified part is butter.

5)      Take a thick bottom wok/Kadai and put all of the butter and the whey in it.

6)      Heat the wok with cream on high flame with occasional stirring.

7)      Soon bubbles will start getting formed. When all cream has melted lower the flame.

8)      Cook on low flame with time to time stirring. If stirring will not be done then the solid will settle down and start getting burnt leaving unpleasant odor and color to the ghee. This is where patience comes into help.

9)      The material in the wok will start becoming thick after 10 min. of cooking on low heat. Keep cooking on low flame with regular stirring. Ghee will start separating.

10)   Keep stirring till the moisture of solid evaporates and it becomes light brown.

11)   Switch of the gas and keep the mixture to cool a bit.

12)   Pour the ghee through a strainer or filter and collect the pure ghee in a clean container.  

The brown solid left behind after this cane is called Khapi in south India and can be used to make sweets

Now you have made the ghee which is home made and you can enjoy the aroma of your hard work and patience.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Cauliflower fritters ( Phulkopi/Gobi Pakora)

One more pakora recipe from my kitchen - especially suitable for the monsoon time. Monsoon is in full swing now in India and it is the best time to enjoy fried food. I know many calorie conscious people avoid fried food these days. But we, Bengalis love our telebhaja (fried in oil) stuff like anything. At least it is better to enjoy the snacks made at home than to eat outside during monsoon season as most street outlets use old fried oil which is very unhealthy.

The basic technique of making vegetable pakora is more or less the same. So you can use similar procedure for aloo pakora, onion pakora or cabbage pakora also.

Preparation Time: - 25 min

Cooking Time: - 30 min

Servings: - 4~5 persons though capacity to consume pakora vary from person to person

Ingredients:- 

1. Cauliflower – 1 medium size cut into medium sized florets
2. Besan/gram flour - 2 cups
3. Ginger-garlic paste - ½ tbsp
4. Red chili powder - ½ tsp optional
5. Green Chilies – 1~2 cut into smallest pieces. I used this and did not use Red chili.
6. Onions – 1 medium ones cut into small pieces
7. Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
8. Garam Masala – ¼ teaspoon
9. Turmeric Powder – a pinch
10. Salt to taste.
11. A pinch of baking soda or baking powder (optional)
12. Water – as required
13. Oil – sufficient enough to reach 8 cm height in your kadai/frying pan. I prefer a 50:50 mixture of mustard oil and sunflower oil. But you can use any of them singularly.
14. Rice flour – 2 tbsp to make this fry crispy
15. Asafetida / Hing powder- a pinch
16. Lemon juice - ½ tsp (optional)
17. Chopped coriander leaves - 1 ~ 2 tbsp for garnish

Preparation:-

1. Cut the cauliflower in medium sized florets and rinse them in water
   
2. Boil sufficient water with salt and add the florets.
3. Take them off the flame and let them be immersed in the water for 10-12 minutes.
   
4. Drain and then marinate the cauliflower with red chili powder (optional), turmeric powder, ginger-garlic paste and garam masala powder. Mix them well enough.  Keep aside for 8-10 minutes.
   
5. Now take another bowl, make a smooth batter with the besan/gram flour, asafetida, baking soda or baking powder, chopped onion, cumin seeds and water. You can add a little bit of sugar and oil here. If you are a sweet tooth you will like it. The oil will make the batter smoother.
   
6. Heat oil in a kadai /frying pan or deep fryer.
7. Dip the marinated cauliflower in the batter one by one.
8. Coat each floret with the batter and add these in the medium hot oil.
   
9. Fry till the pakoras/fritters are crisp and golden evenly.
10. Drain the excess oil on tissue paper/ paper towels.
11. Serve the gobi pakora hot or warm with Tomato sauce/ green chutney/ Chat Masala as you like.
12. You can sprinkle lemon juice and/or black pepper to add more tangy taste.

Another popular way to make these gobi pakoras is without marinating them. Just mix everything except the cauliflower and prepare the batter. Dip the cauliflower florets into the spiced batter and fry the gobi pakoras.

Try this hot as snacks or as a starter to rice/roti based lunch/dinner.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Some cooking tips

We all gather valuable knowledge during our cooking. They are equally important as our recipes. I am trying to list here some tips which I experienced when preparing food. Please add your tips here as well so that it can benefit all of us.

• To avoid smell of Cabbage while cooking: keep a piece of bread on the cabbage in the bowl/kadai/pan while cooking. 
• Now-a-days we all want to avoid oil in our food. Oil is directly increasing cholesterol triglyceride and hence risk if heart attack. As per Devi Shetty even olive oil is not safe. But we, Bengalis, cannot leave our fries. Hence this tip is towards reducing the absorption of oil in any fried food. Before frying anything soak it in salt water for 30 min, esp Brinjal. It will reduce the amount of oil required by a large amount.
• All vegetables has high content of uric acid in their seeds. So older people who have gout or other uric acid related issues are advised not to eat them in bulk. Especially bhindi (okra) and tomatoes have this issue. We can remove the seeds from bhindi by cutting the tips of it and then slitting vertically like the following pics show. This also reduces the slipperiness of it.
  

Aloo Phulkopir dalna (Potato Cauliflower Curry)

This one is a winter favorite of Bengalees. We love our Luchi along with this preparation. Phulkopi (Cauliflower) is available fresh in West Bengal during winter and every Bengali (traditional or not) loves this one. Let’s get started with this yummy preparation right away.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 35~40 min depending upon the time your cauliflower takes to be fully done.

Servings: - 4~5 persons

Ingredients:- 

1. Potato – 3 medium one ( 500 g approx)
2. Cauliflower – 1 medium size
3. Onions – 1 large or 2 medium ones grinded to make paste
4. Ginger paste – 2 ½ tablespoon
5. Green Chilies – 1~2 (stilted). Red chili for the spice lovers
6. Tomato – 2 medium sized (chopped)
7. Cumin seeds – ½  teaspoon
8. Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
9. Coriander powder – 1 ½ teaspoon
10. Ghee – 1 ½  tablespoon
11. Garam Masala - 1 ½ teaspoon
12. Turmeric Powder – ½ teaspoon
13. Salt and sugar - To taste.
14. Bay leaf – 2~3 nos.
15. Oil – 10~12 tablespoon. I prefer mustard oil but sunflower oil also can be used.
16. Green peas – ¼ cup
17. Asafetida / Hing- ½ teaspoon

Preparation:-

1. Cut the cauliflower into medium florets and potatoes into medium cubes.
   
   
   
   
2. Boil the cauliflower in a bowl or in Microwave oven for 3~4 minutes. Drain excess water from the cauliflower. This way the indigestion due to eating cauliflower is reduced to minimum. Mix with salt and turmeric powder. Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry potatoes till they turn golden and then fry cauliflower florets until those turn golden brown. Keep aside both the fried stuff.
   
   
4. Keep few tissue papers on a flat surface. Put the fry on it to drain the excess oil.
5. Heat Oil in a pan and put ½ tbsp ghee, Bay leaves, Green/Red Chili, Cumin Seed and Asafetida.
6. Add onion paste and cook for some time
7. Then add finely chopped tomato and ginger paste. Sauté for two minutes.
8. Add Cumin Powder, Coriander powder, Turmeric, Sugar and Salt.  Sauté till oil comes out from the mix.
9. Add Green Peas.
10. Add fried potatoes and sauté for 5 minutes in low flame.
11. Now add fried cauliflower and sauté for 5 more minutes.
12. Add 250 ml of water and boil in medium flame.
    
13. Put the Garam Masala and boil for 2~3 min
14. Add 1 tbsp. of Ghee and mix it well with the Dalna.
15. Cover and cook for 1~2 min

Try this hot with Luchi or Kachori or Rice or Kitchdi.
As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi and Vishwakarma puja

Wishing all readers a happy and fulfilling Vinayaka Chaturthi and Vishwakarma puja. Let your life be filled with joy and satisfaction.

Macher Dimer (Fish Egg) Kalia

I know it is really long I put in anything new here. It was for my son’s school exam. Now that it is over I guess I will be a bit regular. This time I am continuing from my earlier post  of  Macher dimer Bora.. Here is one more item from the same series. Kalia as we know is little bit spicy in nature than the curry. Let’s hit the deck without wasting much time.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 40~45 min

Servings: - 2~3 persons

Ingredients:- 

1. Fish eggs – ½ cup (I used Katla fish eggs but you can use any sweet water fish or even Hilsa)
   
2. Potato – 1 large or 2 medium sized (cut in cubed form)
3. Onions – 1 medium one grinded to make paste and 1 small one to finely chop
4. Ginger paste – 1 tablespoon
5. Green Chilies – 1~2 (stilted). Red chili for the spice lovers
6. Tomato – 1 medium sized (chopped)
7. Cumin seeds – ¼ teaspoon
8. Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
9. Ghee – 2 teaspoon
10. Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon
11. Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp
12. Salt and sugar - To taste.
13. Oil – 8~9 tablespoon. I prefer mustard oil but sunflower oil also can be used.
14. Cumin seeds - ¼ teaspoon.

Preparation:-

1. Make a mixture of turmeric powder, salt and fish eggs. Put some finely chopped onion also. This mixture should have been smooth like a thick batter. Add some water if you need to. Marinate for 10~15 min.
   

2. Heat 3 tbsp mustard oil in a kadai/pan in medium heat and put the fish egg mixture in it. Fry both the sides on low heat so that it is cooked properly and takes a brown colour.

3. Keep few tissue papers on a flat surface. Put the fry on it to drain the excess oil.

4. Cut the whole thing into few pieces and keep aside.

5. Cut the potatoes into cubes. Heat 2 tbsp oil in medium flame. Sauté the potatoes on high flame with salt till it becomes half cooked. Keep aside.

6. Heat 3 tbsp oil again and add some cumin seeds, When they crackle add some sugar. Add the chopped onions once the sugar caramelizes and fry till it becomes translucent, to this add ginger paste. Once this is done add the chopped tomatoes and cook for two more min. When the mixture starts releasing oil add about 200 ml of water and the cumin powder.

7. Allow it boil for approx 1 min. After this add the potato to the curry, if required add some more water to the gravy.

8. Once the potatoes are completely done add the fried fish egg pieces and the garam masala. Boil for another 5 mins and add ghee.

9. Cover and cook for 1~2 min

Try this with rice or Kitchdi.

Mackerel (Bangda) Fish Curry

As you know I am living in Bangalore. A popular food here is Mackerel or Bangda (in local language)It is one of the most widely consumed fish variety in South India. Although bangda fry and curry are most preferred options, health conscious people can consume this fish in baked, steamed or grilled form. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids and high amount of proteins, eating this fish provides a wide range of health benefits. That is why I decided to try an item with this fish. It turned out to be an wonderful recipe which is described below.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 40 min

 

Servings: - 4 persons

Ingredients:- 

1. 4 pieces Mackerel Fish
2. 2 tsp turmeric powder
3. 2 tsp lemon juice
4. 1 large chopped onions
5. 2 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste – you can use readymade ones or can prepare yourself by grinding
6. 2 small tomatoes
7. 2 tbsp curry powder – I used MDH make. They are really good.
8. 1 tbsp coriander powder.
9. ¼ cup dhania(coriander) leaves chopped
10. 2~3 cloves
11. 1 cup coconut milk
12. Salt - To taste.
13. Oil - 6 table spoon. I prefer mustard oil but white oil also can be used.
14. Bay leaves – 2
15. 2 green chilies silted. You can add more or use red chili if your taste permits so.

Preparation:-

1. Wash and dry fish well. Rub all over with turmeric, salt and lemon juice. Keep it for 15 minutes for marinating.
   
2. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan with medium flame. Fry the fish until golden brown on both sides. It should take about 15 min.
   
3. Drain the excess oil.
4. Take a separate kadai /pan and heat 3 tbsp oil with medium flame.
5. Add bay leaves and cloves. Fry for a minute and then put chopped onion.
   
6. Fry till the onions turn golden brown in low flame. Now add ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, curry powder and dhania powder.
7. Stir and fry until oil begins to separate from the mixture.
8. Now add the dhania leaves and continue cooking. You may need to add ½ cup water here so that the mixture does not dry up.
9. Put the coconut milk and simmer for sometime.
   
10. At last we add the fish in the gravy. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Now it is ready to serve. You can add some more dhania leaves for garnishing. This is one item to be eaten with rice.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Happy Janmashtami to all my readers

With my Baalgopal