About Homemade Butter

In India, homemade butter is a weekly ritual in many households, including mine. For three generations, women in my family have been making butter at home using cream (malai) collected from milk. And I learned the entire butter-making process from them at an early age. The freshly churned butter is served as a condiment with piping hot stuffed paratha, naan, dal makhani, and many other Indian main course dishes. You must be wondering why one should bother with making butter from scratch. There are several reasons!

it enhances the flavour of the main dishyou end up with a superior quality producttaste and texture of homemade butter are unmatchedbest way to use the cream collected from whole milkhomemade butter is unadulterated and preservative-free

Malai vs Cream

You can make butter at home from both – malai and fresh cream. Malai is the Hindi term for a thick layer of cream collected from whole milk. I get 1 litre of whole, full-fat, A2 cow milk daily. Collect the milk cream in a separate bowl (malai) every day after boiling the milk. Keep the bowl in the refrigerator until you are ready to churn butter. Later, add yogurt and churn the butter. If collecting milk cream seems tedious, you can also make butter from store-bought full-fat cream. Heavy cream with more than 30% fat content works best for churning butter. Do not use low-fat cream with less than 25% fat, cooking, or light creams like Amul. The reason for using full-fat cream is to churn out maximum butter. Toned milk malai or skimmed cream will not give you butter, no matter how long you whisk or churn it.

How To Collect Milk Malai (Cream)

Collecting milk cream (malai) is an everyday process. It is used for cooking, making butter, and in many other creative ways in Indian cooking. Boil the full-fat milk one time. Turn off the heat. Allow the boiled milk to cool down completely at room temperature. Once the milk cools down, a thick layer of cream forms. It is called malai (milk cream). Using a broad spoon or spatula, gently remove the layer of cream from the milk and transfer it to a glass bowl with the lid. Keep it in the refrigerator. Add 1 tablespoon of curd/yoghurt to the cream (bowl). This helps in reducing odour and increases the shelf life of malai. Repeat this malai collecting process for the next 10 days.

Ingredients Required

Cream: 2 cups of full-fat cream or milk cream (malai) Water: 4 cups of iced/chilled water Equipment: One large, wide, deep mixing bowl, spatula, and hand mixer with the whisk attachment. You can use a stand mixer as well with the whisk attachment. Muslin cloth and a clean bowl to store the butter.

Butter Making Process

Step 1) Bring out cream or malai from the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Keep iced water ready. Step 2) Transfer cream to a stand mixer or a mixing bowl. Start whisking it at medium speed. Initially, the cream will start to thicken, and you will get whipped cream with smooth peaks. This is STAGE 1. Step 3) Continue to whip the cream. The texture of the cream will now turn grainy, or granules will form. This is STAGE 2. Step 4) Keep whipping the cream at high speed – it will look curdled, and you’ll see some liquid (buttermilk) separating from the cream. This is STAGE 3.  At this point, the buttermilk will begin to splash all around. Cover the bowl with a kitchen napkin or towel to avoid a messy splash all over the place. Step 5) Continue to whisk until the tiny lumps of butter are separated. The butter will start sticking to the whisk at this final stage. Add 2 cups of ice-cold water. It will solidify the butter. Try to form a ball of butter with your hands. Strain the liquid (buttermilk) using a muslin cloth or strainer. You can use buttermilk for drinking as chaas, making kadhi, making dough of whole wheat naan, bhatura without using yeast, or for making whole wheat pancake batter. It is excellent for the gut and digestive systems. Step 6) Transfer the homemade butter to another bowl filled with clean ice cold water. Wash the butter chunk nicely. You can press it in a muslin or cheesecloth to drain excess liquid. Bring the edges of the cheesecloth together and press gently to extract as much buttermilk from the butter as possible. Store the homemade butter in a clean and dry bowl.

Shelf Life and Storage

Store homemade butter in an airtight container. Like packaged butter, it is best to store homemade butter in the refrigerator. Or, in cold climatic conditions, you can keep it at room temperature for 1 – 2 days. The shelf life of homemade butter is not more than 15 days. After that, it starts tasting rancid or slightly bitter, like spoiled fresh cheese. Hence, it is best to make a small batch fortnightly.

More Indian Kitchen Hacks

Ginger Garlic Paste 4 Indian Curry Paste Indian Chai Masala Powder Homemade Garam Masala Powder How To Organize Indian Kitchen Cabinet 6 Easy Meal Prep Tips for Indian Kitchen Subscribe to our weekly newsletter or follow us on Youtube for video recipes.

Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 35Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 96Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 99Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 93Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 96Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 44Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 41Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 58Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 5Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 18Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 72Homemade Butter Recipe  How To Make Butter  - 38