When cooking Indian dishes, can you achieve a similar result when you substitue butter or oil for ghee?

Answer 1

Some recipes require the use of Ghee only then do they taste and smell good. Sweets as a rule should be made in Ghee if the recipe demands, do not substitute it with oil or butter. Savories on the other can be made in oil, though you can't use butter for frying as it burns easily.
Mom uses a combination of Ghee and oil if the recipe requires Ghee to be the medium for cooking. This cuts down the Cholesterol intake and the dish turns out okay. She says the same can be done with butter too for shallow frying.
All fats whether oil / butter / ghee have the same amount of Calories. 9 calories per gram. Ghee and butter are not good options because they raise Cholesterol levels. All oils are fattening. Olive oil is good as it lowers Cholesterol.

Answer 2

Yes you can achieve similar results in highly spiced foods, but when it comes to the sweets and it calls for ghee, then the oil and butter is no good substitute, the sweets will not taste the same.

Answer 3

Ghee is butter. It is basically a clarified butter.

Web IndiaCurry



Recipe Ghee (Clarified Butter)
Overview
Ghee is made by removing the moisture and the nonfat milk solids contained in butter. It is a milk fat in its purest form.


The temperature profile for Ghee
Starts to solidify below 63° F
Starts to melt above 99° F
Smoking Point 375° F


Advantages of using Ghee are
No splattering or burn-on during sautéing
Increased puff for pastries such as Samosa and pie shells;
Long shelf life



How to make Ghee?
Traditionally, Ghee is made from water buffalo's milk because of higher fat content than cow's milk resulting in a higher yield. However, nowadays its is made from Cow's milk.

Ingredient
1 pound of un-salted butter

Method
In a heavy stainless steel pan, melt butter on low heat. Turn up the temperature to medium. Let it simmer. Foam will start to form as the moisture evaporates and Oil starts to clarify. Skim foam off. Cook till you have a light yellow color oil with all the moisture gone. The milk solids will cook to brown particles and stay on the bottom. The whole process will take about 45 minutes. Filter the Ghee using multi-layered cheese cloth to remove brown particles.
Yield 1 ½ cup Ghee.


How to store Ghee?
You should be able to store at room temperature for about six months and about a year in a refrigerated environment.

Answer 4

Paddy's mom is the ghee guru. He said exactly what I was going to say, and then some.

I think the ghee flavour matters more in lighter flavoured dishes. I can't taste much difference between ghee and oil in a heavily spiced curry, but in lighter spiced dals and sweets, I think it makes a bit of difference.

And yes, butter will burn because it has milk solids in it. Clarifying it (turning it into ghee) removes them. It's not hard to do yourself. I used this recipe:
http://www.rwood.com/Recipes/Homemade_Ghee.htm

Answer 5

Ghee(Clarified Butter) and butter have a LOT of calories...and oil is a lot better in that respect. The difference between the 2 is not worth the amout of calories....We use oil and that too sparingly.
G'Luck

Answer 6

According to me - the answer is no.

1. Ghee has its own special taste which is lighter and crisper.
2. Ghee is needed to bring it to a high temperature so the spices can fry in it. - butter would burn.

More on ghee here
http://www.indianfoodsco.com/Submit/Ghee.htm

Answer 7

I think Ghee is the main butter in India. So you should have a more authentic taste.

Answer 8

Roughly similar - but not a perfect solution. But often the best available if you have no Ghee

Answer 9

Ghee is butter, only clarified. Easy to make or buy it in a jar. I've seen it in Asian markets and Indian markets.

Answer 10

Yeah, but I'd say oil is better than butter or ghee.... less fattening.