BUTTERMILK

Recipe for preparing buttermilk

Procedure

To prepare buttermilk, curd is the prime raw material required. Beat the curd in a mixie or beater for 15 - 20 seconds. I hope you know how to prepare curd. It is simple. Boil the whole milk, cool it to room temperature and then add starter culture at 1% level. For e.g. for every one litre of milk, 10 ml of starter culture is required. It is easy and ideal to use the already available curd as a source of starter culture. After adding the starter culture to the milk, thoroughly mix it and leave it undisturbed at room temperature overnight if the prevailing atmospheric temperature is around 30°C. In temperate climate, it is better to keep the milk in an incubator at 32 - 37°C for 8-10 hours.  Now the curd is ready.

How to proceed to produce a delicious and soothing buttermilk?

Take two volumes of water (take 2 litres of water for one litre of curd) in a separate container and allow it to boil. Remove the outer layer of ginger (about 15 grams, in weight) and make it in to small pieces. Similarly, few green chillies (about 10 grams, in weight) are washed in water and cut into bits. Both ginger and chillies are mashed into paste in a mixie.

Next step in preparing buttermilk is to clean the curry and coriander leaves (about eight grams, in weight) and cut them into small pieces. Now add all the ginger-chilly paste, coriander and curry leaves into the boiling water and continue boiling for 5 min. Filter the water and allow the temperature of the water to come down to room temperature. Now add the cooled water to the beaten curd. Mix it thoroughly and add required quantity of salt to taste.

The buttermilk thus prepared retains its original white colour, yet possesses all the extracts required for the flavour and hotness from the ingredients added during boiling.  Chill the buttermilk and now it is ready for serving. Go ahead and quench your thirst and beat the heat with the buttermilk that is on hand!