The Making of Samna (Clarified Butter/ Ghee)

This is an important ingredient to have in the Egyptian kitchen and making it yourself is very satisfying.
The taste of your dishes will be enhanced - this Samna can be used in place of butter.

This is the main ingredient in all the biscuits and shortbreads that are made in all Egyptian homes, the
Unique taste of the Samna is the star of final product.

This is especially good to fry eggs in, as the flavour shines through.

All you need is good quality butter (salted or unsalted) and time (about 3 hours for 5 kg) –
the following method can be used for any amount of butter you are melting, but you may need to shorten the time if you are making a small amount.

1.     Place the blocks of butter in a large heavy based saucepan (big enough to take the amount you are melting) – I use Scanpan as it is a good non-stick pot.

2.     Put over a medium heat until the butter melts and starts to come to a boil.

3.     Turn down the heat and let it simmer

4.     It will create a foam on top, keep an eye on it at this stage as it could over boil as the milk solids come to the top)

5.     Stir the pot occasionally to ensure that nothing sticks to the bottom.

6.     The milk solids will drop to the bottom of the pot stir them every 15 mins to ensure its not sticking.

7.    Once the milk solids turn a deep golden colour (go as brown as possible without burning) and    the butter has become translucent – this is the cooking of the butter which develops the unique Egyptian taste, then its ready.

8.     Pour into your containers, discarding the brown solids in the bottom of the pot, and place lid on – leave to cool and set (if the weather is very hot you may need to put in the fridge to set then they can be stored in the pantry.