Indian Cooking Tips: White Butter (Makkhan) Benefits And 2 Easy Ways Of Making It (2024)

Butter is that most necessary of cooking ingredients that is imperative for any functional kitchen. The grease, sometimes loved, sometimes feared (mostly by the health freaks), is still a deliciously addictive ingredient that can add richness and softness to any dish that it's added to. Butter is a baker's best friend and the best buddy that a toast could ask for. We can't get enough of its greasy goodness. Although the store-bought butter works great with most of the dishes, the joy of lathering homemade white butter on everything from parathas to rotis is something all desis will definitely prefer over the former. Our mothers and grandmothers would even serve us the homemade white butter with glasses of buttermilk (chhas and lassi).

A dollop of this creamy deliciousness would always float atop chilled, thick and sweetened lassis served to us at home during summers. Even now a number of dhabas and street-side lassi stalls would make sure to add a spoonful of freshly made butter to glasses of the quintessential summer drink. White butter can be easily made at home using cream or malai that we get from whole milk.

^{Benefits Of Butter: Yellow butter is delicious but white butter is healthier}

1. Store-bought butter contains excessive added salt, which may increase blood pressure. You may or may not add salt to homemade butter as per your own choice.

2. Homemade butter is a source of fats that are healthier than commercially-available butters. The latter containtrans-fats, which may result in weight gain and may harm your health in other ways as well.

3. Although both types of butters are calorie-dense, yellow butter contains empty calories, while white butter is said to be rich in vitamins and minerals as well.

Also Read:Ghee Versus Butter: Which One Is Better?

4. Since homemade butter is essentially dairy fats, some people may associate it with increased risk of heart diseases. But there is enough scientificevidence to suggest that that is not true. Saturated fats from dairy, like the fat in white butter, is said to have a protective effect against heart diseases and stroke.

^{Indian cooking tips: White butter is a source of healthy saturated fats}

Making white butter is extremely easy. All you need to do to make makkhan at home is to collect the cream that gets accumulated atop your whole milk and set it aside. Store the cream in the freezer until you have collected enough whole cream (about two or three cups of it). Once you get the desired quantity, allow the cream to sit outside till it comes down to room temperature. Then you can either add it to a food processor until the butter and buttermilk separates or beat it manually. Beating the butter manually with a wooden churner may give you better results. Alternatively, you can check out Chef Niru Gupta's methodof making white butter using ice cubes..

(This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.)

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