Homemade Yogurt Plain
½ gallon milk (full fat, low-fat 1% or 2%, or nonfat)
½ cup of plain yogurt with live acidophilus cultures (yogurt starter)
Bring milk to boil in saucepan and turn off. Put ice in sink and fill with cold water about ¼ full. Place the bottom outside of pan with milk inside in sink. Watch that the cold water in sink does not flow up and get inside of pan with milk. You are cooling the milk by getting the outside of the pan cool. Stir and watch closely. As soon as you can place your finger in the milk and count to ten without the milk burning your finger, the milk is ready. The milk is very warm. Add the yogurt starter and give it a few stirs. Then place a lid over the pan and put in warm place for 7-8 hours. To keep warm, you can place in oven with light on. Try not to move yogurt around while cultures are growing. After 7-8 hours, yogurt is done. You can now move and refrigerate.
Ghee in a Crock Pot (I like this method best)
3lbs of Butter (you can fit 6lbs in large Crock pot)
2-3 glass jars with lids to store ghee
Unwrap butter and place in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours. Over-night is fine. Let it cool some before pouring. All milk solids should be at the bottom of the pan (they are brown and ugly). The ghee should be a rich yellow golden color. There might be some scum on the surface; you can push down or to the sides with a spoon. Take a stainless steel cup with a spout and dip into the ghee without coming too close to the bottom and try only to get the clear liquid, pour this into a fine strainer which is over your storing container (a glass jar is best). Tilt the crock pot bowl as you dip closer to the brown milk solids at the bottom. Instead of doing this dipping process to get your ghee out you could pour the ghee out into the fine strainer that goes into your storing container until the milk solids start to pour out then stop. You might get away without using a strainer if the milk solids have settled nicely. You may waste up to 1-2 T of ghee to avoid mixing the milk solids with the ghee. Do your best and enjoy Makes 2-3 cups..
Ghee on the Stovetop
Clarified butter is what gives the rich, distinctive flavor to north India cooking. Having no milk
solids it can be heated to much higher temperatures than butter without burning.
1 pound unsalted butter
1.Heat butter in a saucepan until it melts and froths. Spoon off foam from the top and pour the melted butter into a heatproof glass bowl, discarding the milk solids in the pan.
2. Allow to cool to room temperature, then chill until set.
3. Spoon off fat from the top, leaving the residue.
4. Heat the fat again, then strain through several thicknesses of cheesecloth to remove any remaining solids.
5. Store in tightly covered container. This will keep for 3 to 4 months without refrigeration.
Makes about 2 cups.
Another Recipe for Ghee on the Stovetop
1.Place one pound of unsalted real butter in a one-quart saucepan over low heat. Allow melting completely then raising heat to medium. Skim off foam as it rises with large spoon. When butter begins to boil, lower heat, cook slowly for fifteen minutes. The butter cooked this way prevents it from mold.
2.The butter is done when the moisture has cooked out and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan have turned a light golden brown. Remove from heat, let cool, pour into clean glass jar
and cover with lid. You can pour through a strainer, but it is not critical.
3.Store at room temperature or cooler. Will store indefinitely without refrigeration.
Note: In India clarified butter is called Ghee. It has been prepared this way for thousands of years. Ghee that is older than ten years is considered a medicinal food. Makes 1-2 cups.
Recipes by Atma Kaur Khalsa 9/15/2007