Heat milk daily and, once cooled, refrigerate it. Collect the cream that forms on top and store it in a bowl in the freezer. This ghee is made from 10 days’ worth of collected cream. When ready to make ghee, take the bowl out of the freezer and let it sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the cream to a heavy-bottomed pan. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly so the cream doesn’t stick to the pan. After about 15 to 20 minutes of stirring, the cream will start to thicken.

When the cream becomes grainy and turns golden, as shown in the picture, turn off the heat. The residual heat will deepen the color of the solids slightly.

A little milk may remain in the cream—do not remove it. This helps make the ghee grainy. Making ghee this way takes time, but the result is very aromatic and grainy ghee. Be sure to keep the heat very low and stir continuously.

Once the ghee has cooled, place a cheesecloth over the container you’ll use to store the ghee and secure it with a rubber band. Pour the ghee over the cloth to strain it. Remove the rubber band and squeeze the cheesecloth to extract all the ghee. Store the leftover solids (mawa) in the refrigerator for a day. The next day, you can use this mawa to make any sweet. I have made many recipes with this mawa, such as paan ladoo, rose ladoo, chocolate ladoo, and besan barfi.

Note: Place a betel leaf at the bottom of the container before pouring in the ghee. This helps keep the ghee fresh for a longer time and prevents spoilage.