Malai To Toop In The Microwave

I was always intimidated with Toop /ghee making till I found this Microwave method in a cookbook that came with my Samsung Microwave. I salute Karen Anand the writer for making it this easy.

Most books in the past told me I need a heavy bottom large vessel, I required to heat it on the gas and watch it till it boils down to the clear liquid Toop. Then was the cleaning part. I don't have a servant so who will clean the messed vessel? It sounded like a laborious process.

So over the years I just assimilated all the tips about Toop making and only recently, that is to be exact, since a month I have finally started making my own Toop. I was inspired by many of my blogger buddies.You will find many blogs giving steps to make Toop from store bought unsalted butter. You could buy the white butter/ Loni/ Benne from the dairy and use it too. But here it is the age old tradition of Indians of saving whatever you can from being wasted. Till I started making my own Toop, I would skim the milk into a tiny bowl, add sugar to it and hand it out to Dad before the morning tea.

Here is how I do it

1. I buy 1/2 litre of whole milk everyday, which is enough for 2. I start collecting the skimmed Malai in a 500ml jar on a Monday. This jar goes into to the fridge to which I keep adding the Malai and give a stir in the jar everyday.
2. At the end of the week by Saturday I have 250 ml Malai, I keep the jar out and let it come to room temperature, about 2 hrs.
3. Then shake it for 15 mins to make butter like this. I learnt it from Manisha's IFR.
4. Decant the buttermilk, about 1/4 cup or half cup is what I get. I use it to knead chapati dough.
5. Then remove the ball of butter/ Loni / Benne into a 1 litre pyrex bowl.
6. Put the bowl with the Malai into the microwave and set the power at high and microwave in short bursts of 2 mins for a total of 8 mins. Till all the water is evaporated and you have just the Toop/ ghee beginning to separate from the solids. It boils vigorously at this stage, do not worry if it splashes out a bit onto the turntable.
7. Important: Since Toop/ ghee is inflammable pl. do not go away from the microwave. You have to attend to the entire process, it takes only 10 mins end to end.
8. Now let the solids go from white to brown in the next 2 mins.
9. Put off the heat and remove it from the oven and put the bowl on a stand or kitchen napkin. Do not keep it on the stone counter directly. The hot bowl might crack if it touches water or any cold surface.
10. After the boiling subsides while the Toop/ ghee is still in the liquid stage decant it into a small jar or heat resistant container.
11. You should get clear golden Toop like below.
12. Tip: The leftover brown solids can be used in masalas when you grind a paste for curries. It makes the curry khamang! (This is a tip that I remember Va Pu Kale the Katha Kathnakar / Storyteller had mentioned in one of his interviews on Doordarshan when I was a only a child and I still remember it, as I was amazed at this man's talent, he was a fabulous Katha Kathankar, an architect by profession and sounded like a fab cook too.)
    
13. Tip: The bowl can be used to reheat leftover curries.
14. This way you don't waste even a trace of ghee or the by products of the Toop /ghee making.
15. Since the the quantity of Malai collected at home is very little I use this fragrant pure ghee only for my everyday dal and rice.

This is the perfect traditional married to modern processing recipe. 

This completely homemade Toop /Ghee from Malai is extremely fragrant and pure!