Went into the kitchen to
wash the tea mug and something urged me to multitask. I tapped the Nityapuja playlist
on my tab and set it down on the dining table. Great feeling to cook while some sacred chants go on in the background. Nice, clean and pure. Also helps you stay focused. Opened the freezer door and took
out the grated carrots and the tin of cream. I have this habit of skimming off the cream from the curd bowl after it sets and has been in the fridge for a night. That way it is nice thick and hard and easy to scoop off. This, I transfer in to a container that goes into the freezer. Once it is full the cream is ready to become butter and thence into ghee.
I had just transferred the cream
into the blender… when the familiar hum of the
refrigerator stopped. Power failure at the random hour. Typical of Bangalore.
The hi-tech city, silicon capital of India, in total disorder. But then that is the order of the day. Grin and bear it. I never use any heavy appliances when I am on the inverter. So, I switched my attention to breakfast.
A potato, peeled and finely diced
along with the grated carrot found its place in the copper bottom frying pan. A
sprinkle of salt and red chilli powder, sauté for a few minutes and the side
dish was ready. The ball of dough from last night became five medium size chapattis.
I was just about to dig in when the power came back on. Hmmm that was Interesting…So fast? Someone
was working at the local substation.
I looked at the hot
breakfast and the tin of cream and decided to work on the cream and then polish
off the food. Did not seem like a wise decision at first, setting aside a hot
breakfast to work on making butter. But it actually turned out for the better.
Churning cream for butter these days is simple. Popped the lid of the blender
added half a glass of cold water, closed it and turned the knob. I listened for
the change in sound that would tell me that the butter had separated. Two
continuous minutes later the pitch of the motor changed. The first batch was
done. Scooped out the butter into the frying pan, and poured the second
batch of cream into the blender. Some water, stir, cap and churn. The second batch took a bit
longer. Using a strainer I transferred the butter to the pan again.
Like last time I noticed
the funny thing about the amount of butter that floated as bits and pieces instead
of coagulating as one blob. Usually, I would have replaced the buttermilk in
the fridge and churned it again later. I found that churning it chilled brought
out the butter faster. But today preferred to finish the project at one go. It
took another 30 minutes of churning and careful straining to get the rest of
the butter out. Put the pan of fresh home-made butter on the small burner and
lit the stove turning the knob to minimum.
The buttermilk went into
the fridge, the blender, blades, ladles, spoons, strainer into the sink and my
attention turned to breakfast. By the time I finished my breakfast the butter
had melted and had started frothing. A sign that I had not removed all the
water from the butter, but then it was understood. Home-made butter always
had a percentage of butter milk in it. And it was not good to store such butter
for long. But the whole exercise had been to make ghee all along so it did not
matter.
I stirred the butter
intermittently and when the frothing stabilized, turned to the blender and
others in the sink. It is prudent to wash the utensils at the earliest for many
reasons including avoiding the grease lines along the sides that attract bugs
and insects… definitely avoidable in a kitchen. 15 mins later the rigging was
in the drip rack, the sink empty, its sides brushed well with an old
tooth brush that I kept there just for such use.
10 minutes and quite some stirring later, the butter had melted
completely, the froth reduced, and the milk solids were settling at the
bottom of the pan. The rich aroma of ghee filled the kitchen I knew it was
done. Taking the pan off the stove, I set it aside to cool at its own pace and
left the kitchen. Half an hour later the pan had cooled sufficiently to strain
the golden yellow rich liquid into its designated container.
By the way, one good thing
I learned from my mother was to have a designated container for everything in
the kitchen. Particularly for stuff that can go bad if you mix things up, like
ghee, oil, pickles, salt, tamarind, and a few others. They had their tins, bottles... whatever and nothing else would be stored in them. If the stocks were exhausted, they remained empty till fresh stock was brought and filled in. No other item found its way in. That way, there is no unwanted 'flavoring' or 'food chemistry' - which in some cases can be pretty unpleasant.
Anyways, the ghee filled
it almost to the top, and the milk solids lay in the strainer. I was careful not to press too hard because
the solids would then find their way into the ghee ruining taste, texture and
color. I left the container open for a while to let the ghee come to room temperature.
And then… well! Don’t hold it against me… put the ghee into the freezer. Technically
one does not have to store ghee in a “cool dark place”. If made properly, it
never goes rancid. But you see, I am a bachelor and my use for ghee is as a
drizzle when I have some podi’s (spicy powders) or pickles, which is not very
often. And of course on special occasions and festivals use it to light a lamp
for God. And Bangalore weather is fickle, who knows when a bit of moisture may creep in... Better it is in the freezer and safe
rather than outside and go bad. That was the project on a Saturday morning.
Hmmmm.... Satisfying!
