Butter, Ghee, Paneer, Cheese, Cream

• WHEN making butter out of cream in summer, stand the jug of cream in a basin of cold water or ice and whisk briskly. When the cream thickens, add cold water to quicken the butter forming.
• BUTTER-making is less messy if you heat a pan of water first so that the bowl of cream, whisk, jug, and so on, can be easily cleaned by dipping in the hot water. Do not throw away this oily water-use it to rub all over the body when having a bath.
• IF you add some salt to the cream before churning, the butter will taste better and last longer without going rancid.
• IF the buttermilk is too salty to drink, use it in place of water in a vegetable curry. In fact, when mixed with a bit of curd and besan and cooked with onions, tomatoes and spices, it makes a very popular north Indian speciality call ‘besan ki karahi’ ! Sindhi Karahi can also be made with this.
• YOU can usually get quite a bit of paneer or cottage cheese out of buttermilk. Just heat it and either squeeze a bit of lime juice into it or add a spoonful of curd to make it curdle. Strain the paneer so that the whey is separated.
• IF buttermilk or whey is used to knead the dough for tandoori roti and naans, they come out extra light, provided you let the dough stand for some hours before use.
• CREAM should only be made into butter while it is fresh. Once it turns smelly and discolourd it is not worthwhile doing so, as it will go bad very soon. However, it can be turned into perfectly good ghee.
• WHEN you are making ghee out of cream, it is best to line the karahi or pan with a teaspoon of oil or butter to prevent the cream from sticking to the bottom of the pan as it slowly cooks.
• COOKED this way over a slow fire, the ghee will not turn brown and neither will the residue from the ghee get burnt and be tendered useless. It can be used in a number of ways once the ghee is strained and bottled.
• GHEE residue can be used for making halwas out of suji, besan or dalia. First heat the residue in a karahi on a low fire and then add a few spoonfuls of any one of the above ingredients. Roast for a while till you get a nice aroma, and then add the sugar and water. Cook for a few minutes, garnish with nuts and serve. There is no need to add any ghee as the residue contains plenty of it. Hence this is a very economical way of making a tasty sweet dish.