Spiced Ghee

1. In a mortar and pestle, lightly crush the peppercorns, cardamom, and fennel. Keep the other spices (cloves and caraway seeds) whole.
2. In the same pan that you will use to make ghee, add all the spices, crushed and whole, and turn on the heat to low. Gently dry-roast the spices until they are aromatic. This will happen within a minute so keep an eye on things or you’ll have burnt-tasting spiced ghee. If you are distracted or short on time, skip this step and add the spices and butter together to the pan. Un-roasted spices will affect the final flavour far less than burnt spices!
3. Add the butter, turn the heat up to medium-low and let the butter melt completely.
4. Turn the heat to very low for the remainder of the process, and cook for an additional 25-30 minutes. The butter will start to foam and you will hear the butter crackle and pop. This is water evaporating from the butter.
5. Periodically check the butter without stirring. Instead of stirring, tilt the pan slightly or use a stainless steel or wood spoon to separate the foam so you can see the butter solids and spices. As the butter cooks, the solids will separate and settle, and the butter will get clearer.
6. As more and more water evaporates, the crackling and popping will reduce and the solids at the bottom of the pan will turn caramel in colour. After roughly 20-25 minutes after you start cooking the butter on low heat, the crackling and popping will almost completely stop. The solids will also turn a deep golden colour (you want to make sure it doesn’t turn dark brown).
7. Immediately turn off the heat when it turns this deep golden colour! Deep golden to burnt takes no time at all and that’s most definitely going to make the ghee taste burnt.
8. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the ghee into a completely dry container. Let the ghee cool completely before putting a lid on the container.
9. Store in a covered container at room temperature. Ghee at room temperature is straw coloured with a semi-liquid texture. If correctly made, it will be easily spoon-able at room temperature with no scraping required. Always use a clean spoon to scoop out ghee for use. Ghee does not need to be refrigerated and if it is not exposed to contaminates, it will keep for over a year, even outside the fridge.