Topic: Ghee - Good or Bad?

[chriswg]

A few months ago I was cooking a "Curry Secret" curry with some friends. We bought a tin of Ghee and decided to use it liberally. We fried onions for the base sauce in it, we brushed the bhajis, naan breads and poppadums with it, basically it went in everything. The result? The meal was DISGUSTING!!! No one could eat anything. After so much work I was gutted but everything tasted like cheese, especially the Tikka Masala for the ladies. Is this normal with ghee or did we just have an off batch? It was well in date and opened fresh having been delivered a couple of days previously. If you make your own ghee, does it have a strong odour?

[Derek Dansak]

Hi, thats exactly what i would expect. ghee is like any ingredient, you need to use it at the right time and the right place, in the right amounts. i use ghee in certain dishes like rogan josh,or bhoona,  which should have a rich buttery taste. but i never use it in madras or any other key bir dishes. next time you use it, try just using around 3 tbs of butter ghee with 3 or 4 tbs of veg oil. this can work well for things like rogan josh, or bhuna. ghee gives a slightly sickly sweet dairy produce type of taste. ghee is an essential oil in true bir cooking, and needs some practice to get the best result. when used right it can bring out a lot more taste in the spices. in my opinion that is ! hope this helps. DD

[qprbob]

Ghee comes in two forms. Butter Ghee and Vegetable Ghee. Under no circumstances would I use Vegetable Ghee, as it is full of Trans fats, and they are no good for you at all. Somewhere there is a post about it. Never made my own, but will have a go one day.
If you make your own Pilau Rice fry the spices in it and the rice. BIRs do their rice with it.

[Derek Dansak]

what spices and quantities would you fry in the ghee for enough rice 2 serve 2 people? i can never get my rice tasting as lovely as my local bir. despite trying rose water, cloves, cumin, cardoman, safron etc. not all at once !! i must admit plain basmati rice tastes very nice though, with lots of salt and butter.

[qprbob]

DD

I always use the same quantities, 300g rice, 600ml water, which is enough for 4 small appetites or 2 large appetites.  I suppose you could halve the quantities.
The spices used are 4 cloves, 4 green Cardamons, 2 brown Cardamons, 2 inch piece of Casia bark and 2 Asian bay leaves and this all fried together in 1 Tbl spoon of butter Ghee until they release their aromas.
Pilau rice really freezes well, but make sure when you Microwave it is really steaming hot, to kill off that nasty bacteria. The name of the bacteria I forget. Give CA's perfect pilau rice every time illustrated a read, very informative. Sorry can't do the link thing.

[chriswg]

Thanks for the info, I guess we went a little crazy with it. I assumed it would be like butter so we put in lots. Maybe I'll give it another go next time but start small and work my way up.

[emin-j]

I have found Butter Ghee to smell and taste quite sickly  and even a smallish amount ruined some Pilau Rice I made  I now use a nob of butter , much better.
However ,ever since I had a visit to my local takeaways kitchen where they mix a small amount of butter ghee with their cooking oil I use a small amount when making a Madras.

[Secret Santa]

I have found Butter Ghee to smell and taste quite sickly  and even a smallish amount ruined some Pilau Rice I made

I entirely agree with that amin-j. I recently had some restaurant pilau rice that very obviously had been cooked in butter ghee. I really, really, didn't like it. When the hell did BIRs start putting butter ghee in the pilau, is nothing bloody sacred?

[The Kris Dhillon]

A few months ago I was cooking a "Curry Secret" curry with some friends. We bought a tin of Ghee and decided to use it liberally. We fried onions for the base sauce in it, we brushed the bhajis, naan breads and poppadums with it, basically it went in everything. The result? The meal was DISGUSTING!!! No one could eat anything. After so much work I was gutted but everything tasted like cheese, especially the Tikka Masala for the ladies. Is this normal with ghee or did we just have an off batch? It was well in date and opened fresh having been delivered a couple of days previously. If you make your own ghee, does it have a strong odour?

That sounds awful, I really feel for you.  Ghee does not smell awful, nor does it taste awful.  It is not strong, but it has a delicious aroma and taste and you can use it for sweet aswell as savoury dishes.  It is also ideal for deep frying. Ghee made from good diary butter is just about the best thing you can use for all your cooking.  My mum and dad never used anything else when I was growing up.  Their attitude was that only poor people cooked with oil!

I wonder if what you bought was vegetable 'ghee' (the equivalent of clarified margarine) that had gone off.  Anyway, in future perhaps it would be better to make your own.  It is really easy.  Gently melt a couple of slabs of butter on low heat and then continue to cook it gently until it becomes clear.  Take it off the heat just as it starts to darken. Some of the solids sink to the bottom whilst others float to the top in clumps.  I let it cool for 10 minutes or so and just skim the clumps off the top and pour the clear ghee into a container leaving the solids at the bottom.  Kris

[qprbob]

I have found Butter Ghee to smell and taste quite sickly  and even a smallish amount ruined some Pilau Rice I made

I entirely agree with that amin-j. I recently had some restaurant pilau rice that very obviously had been cooked in butter ghee. I really, really, didn't like it. When the hell did BIRs start putting butter ghee in the pilau, is nothing bloody sacred?

SS

The amount of Ghee I use to fry the spices and rice is only 1Tbl spoon for 300g of rice. This amount of rice is enough for 4 small portions or 3 large. So really you are talking about 1 Tsp of Ghee to a portion, not a great deal really.

This is the Ghee I use.