I found this method through google, and it seems to have some good practical tips for following the process.
As for mustard oil, cheating with the web again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_oil
indicates that canola oil is considered very much a similar textured product. To get some taste, throw some mustard seeds in and fry them before cooking anything else. It should be noted again that Mustard Oil is an acquired taste and should not be expected to be pleasant for everyone... ;-)
Peppers do indeed deserve their own diary, but someone else will have to write that one I think.
As for rice, a proper discussion will have to wait for a diary I will write one day that will take in various Indian breads too...
In the meantime, here's a great comment on how to cook perfect rice from an acquaintance of mine:
Extremely careful analysis I conducted using a Cray supercomputer [1] revealed to me that the correct ratio is 1 cup of rice to 1.27 cups of water. In any case, you should ideally prepare rice the way it was done in ancient South-East Asia, ca. 4000 BC: with a Panasonic electric rice cooker. [1] K. O. Met, "I'm A Better Person Than You In Every Way". J. Food Sci. 1997, 4:455
[1] K. O. Met, "I'm A Better Person Than You In Every Way". J. Food Sci. 1997, 4:455
1 pound unsalted butter (I use organic butter) Put the butter in a heavy-medium size pan. Turn on the heat until butter melts. Turn down the heat until the butter just boils and continue to cook at this heat. Do not cover the pot. The butter will foam and sputter for a while and the begin to quiet down. Stir occasionally. In 12-15 minutes, it will begin to smell like popcorn and turn a lovely golden color. Whitish curds will begin to from on the bottom of the pot. When these whitish curds turn a light tan color, the ghee is ready. Take it of the heat immediately, for the ghee is most likely to burn at this stage - ant it burns quickly. Burned ghee has a nutty smell and a dull, slightly brownish color. The cooking time should not be longer than 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the kind of pan and the heat source. Let the ghee cool until just warm. Skim of and save any foam left on the top, it is good for hot rice. Poor the ghee through a fine sieve or layers of cheesecloth into a glass container with a tight lid. Discard the curds at the bottom of the saucepan. Ghee can be kept on the kitchen shelf, covered. It does not need refrigeration. Don't ladle out the ghee ghee with a wet spoon or allow any water to get into the container, as it will spoil the ghee. Once you become familiar with the cooking process, you can make 2 or 3 pounds of butter into ghee at a time.
Put the butter in a heavy-medium size pan. Turn on the heat until butter melts.
Turn down the heat until the butter just boils and continue to cook at this heat. Do not cover the pot. The butter will foam and sputter for a while and the begin to quiet down. Stir occasionally.
In 12-15 minutes, it will begin to smell like popcorn and turn a lovely golden color. Whitish curds will begin to from on the bottom of the pot. When these whitish curds turn a light tan color, the ghee is ready. Take it of the heat immediately, for the ghee is most likely to burn at this stage - ant it burns quickly. Burned ghee has a nutty smell and a dull, slightly brownish color. The cooking time should not be longer than 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the kind of pan and the heat source.
Let the ghee cool until just warm. Skim of and save any foam left on the top, it is good for hot rice. Poor the ghee through a fine sieve or layers of cheesecloth into a glass container with a tight lid. Discard the curds at the bottom of the saucepan.
Ghee can be kept on the kitchen shelf, covered. It does not need refrigeration. Don't ladle out the ghee ghee with a wet spoon or allow any water to get into the container, as it will spoil the ghee.
Once you become familiar with the cooking process, you can make 2 or 3 pounds of butter into ghee at a time.
I found it really important to keep the ghee from getting in touch with any water, one drop and it tends to spoil. I also found the foam to be very delicious on vegetables. However you need to consume it within 2-3 days as it easily turns bad.
I have other recipes on how to make ghee but this is the one I like best and most experience with.
Great info, clearly you're a more organised cook than I am. :-)
