Kasaar

Oct 24, 2018 (Sharad Poornima)

'Kasaar', the word is not something native to my language but then this is what people around me use to call it growing up. I think we simply called it 'आटे का प्रसाद'. I also noticed that there is a similar dish name in Nepal and the recipe is also similar. Whatever the name but I am sure most folks have had it in some form or the other.

Its full moon day today! Somehow the moon never fails to amaze every single time. I have so many different memories with moon. We grew up singing 'चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाये बूर के। .... ' that I am sure moon was wondering how come he got so many sisters. My 'real' name means moon or rather moon phases/moonbeams. All throughout our childhood full moon use to be a special day for us - mom would do the fast. We would listen to the satya narayan katha. My brother was responsible for reading it and my sister was responsible for blowing the conch. After that we would go see the moon and eat the prasad. Some days the moon would be hiding behind the clouds but we still got to eat the prasad. It would then be distributed to the neighbors as well. I made it today but in a healthy way to avoid overdose of sugar.

On multiple occasions I had the chance to see the Moon in the sky on one side while the Sun was rising on the other side. All so normal for both of them as if wishing each other a good night and good morning but the sight is absolutely mesmerizing!

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour (Aata)

2. Sugar or Gud (used Gud)

3. Ghee

4. Dry fruits (optional)

Steps:

1. Add a few teaspoons ghee to a heated pan.

2. Add the atta to it and keep stirring.

3. Add the cut dry fruits (fox nuts, almonds).

4. Keep stirring.

5. When it turns light brown, add sugar or gud to it.

6. Keep stirring and then take off the heat when the color is brown. 

Homemade Ghee

They say stories can create positive emotions! May be that's the reason people tell bed time stories to kids? So I will add my Ghee stories in this post. I guess the Ghee recipe is probably well known so nobody will care about that.

I have been making Ghee at home for quite some time now and eat it regularly. Something common with my parents who would boast about eating so much Ghee in their times. I have some good childhood memories associated with Ghee.

My mom use to make extra rotis during lunch when we were in school so we could eat those to get past the 3pm slump. We will eat those rotis as the lunch energy disappeared and my favorite was to eat them with 'ghee-cheeni'. It was a thing! Put good amount of Ghee on the roti and then spread sugar all around on the roti and them roll it up so that the sugar won't fall. I realize that I had a great affinity to sugar back then where I would put spoonful of sugar in the mouth when bored - the activity was called 'cheeni-phankna' :-). I remember how I never ate yogurt without sugar but then taste changes and now my taste is much more healthier.

So why make Ghee at home? If you are just bored doing nothing, it can keep you engaged for an hour or so - probably not the best motivation though. Here are some others:

Saves money - $4.69 for 1LB(450gm) butter which produced approx 375ml of Ghee. The same amount of readymade organic Ghee would cost more than $15 I guess. Talking about saving, its in my blood I guess to optimize and get the max value out of the money I spend. My parents never wasted anything to an extent that I have a few funny stories that I still tease them on how could they save so much. I didn't see any impulsive purchases happening around (except few ;) ) so it has really come to me mixed in the genes.

You know what you are eating - I mean you really know what happened to that butter and how it turned into Ghee.

Tastes great - I have a couple of old Indian store Ghee bottles lying around with some Ghee in it. I think I stopped liking it after a while. Homemade Ghee reminds me of old days when we use to sometimes get fresh cow milk (freshly milked from the cow in front of you!) and it tasted so good that I understood why I didn't like the normal buffalo milk taste. Freshness and purity made all the difference. Those raw experiences really help me appreciate a number of things in life more.

You get more! - The left over brown colored milk solids can be eaten with sugar like a cool dessert. We use to eat them as kids but not I just throw it away. Remember to throw it in the trash and not in the sink drain as it can clog it.

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For those who really wanted to read the recipe here is mine (nothing fancy).
Ingredients:
Unsalted Organic Butter - 1LB

Preparation:
1. Empty the butter sticks into a pan and put it on medium low heat.
2. Let the butter melt. Soon the milk solids will start separating from the fat which is ghee.
3. Keep heating on low heat, stirring it in between and let the milk solids become brown and settle at the bottom of the pan.
4. Once you see the clear ghee, turn off the heat.
5. Let the Ghee cool down.
6. Keep a bottle handy and use a paper towel or a thin cotton cloth as a funnel to filter the ghee.
7. Store the Ghee at room temperature.