Homemade Butter

My bibi je (my grandmother), my ami and all other females in our family always made butter at home, following the tradition I do the same. Since we get fresh milk every day, I get a chance to store clotted cream daily, clotted cream (also know as malai in urdu) is made by slowly heating milk for about an hour and a half until it a thick layer of cream is formed. What I do is just leave the milk as it is until it gets cold, then I transfer it to fridge, and the next morning, I takes all the clotted cream off and store it in a container, after 6-7 days I get enough clotted cream to make butter as well as ghee, so here’s how we make it…

1) All you need is 2 to 3 cups of cream,  what you do is add  two tablespoon of yogurt to clotted cream (you can also use heavy cream) stir  it , cover it and then let it sit at room temperature for almost 12 hours. 

2) The next day when you are ready to make butter, add 1 cup of cream at one time with 1&1/2 to 2 cups of water in a blender (use cold water during summer, and luke warm water during winter). In the beginning the cream will begun to smoothen and you will get smooth whipped cream. 

3) Continue to blend until you see buttermilk and the thick butter getting separated. You will see lumps of butter floating in the buttermilk. 

4) Turn off the blender,  with the help of slotted spoon take out all the butter in to a bowl. pour the buttermilk in a jug for latter use, now add the 2nd cup of cream along with water and follow the same procedure.

5) Once you are done with making butter, run your hands under cold water, Form the butter into a ball, press the ball to squeeze out any excess buttermilk then squeeze the butter together, (or you can also do it with the back of a spoon). 

6) Place the bowl in the sink, rinse the butter in cold water, and squeeze it again. Repeat this process until the water runs clear and the butter does not release any liquid when you press on it, that’s it, home made butter is ready, you can keep it in the refrigerator for a week.

Note: Don’t discard the buttermilk, you can use it for baking, or add it to mashed potatoes as a substitute to milk. You can also" lassi" with it, a typical Pakistani drink served with breakfast or lunch. it's very simple to make and is very good for the digestive system too, just add a pinch of salt to one glass of butter milk(or a tsp of sugar for the sweet lassi) whisk it or blend it in a blender to get a slight froth. That’s it, pour it in to the glass and enjoy this refreshing drink.