Braj Makhan Mishri Butter Jaggery Vrindavan Prasad

Method

1. 1

   Make the yogurt: Warm 1 litre full-fat milk to just warm. Add 2 tbsp yogurt. Stir. Cover and rest in a warm place 6 to 8 hours until set.

2. 2

   Collect the cream: From the set yogurt, skim the thick cream that has risen to the top. Collect over 2 to 3 days of making fresh yogurt.

3. 3

   Alternatively use fresh cream: Use 500 ml fresh full-fat cream as a shortcut.

4. 4

   Churn the cream: Place the cream in a tall vessel. Using a traditional wooden churner (madani) or a hand blender, churn vigorously for 8 to 10 minutes. The cream separates — the fat clumps together into butter and the liquid (buttermilk) separates.

5. 5

   Collect the butter: Gather the soft white butter from the churned cream. It will be white, very soft and slightly sweet.

6. 6

   Rinse the butter: Rinse the fresh butter under cold water, pressing and squeezing until the water runs clear. This removes all buttermilk which would cause the butter to sour.

7. 7

   Shape: Roll the fresh white butter into small balls.

8. 8

   Coarsely crush the mishri: Using a mortar and pestle, coarsely crush the crystallised rock sugar into irregular shards.

9. 9

   Arrange the prasad: Place the fresh white butter balls in a small bowl. Scatter the coarsely crushed mishri over and around the butter.

10. 10

    Offer and distribute: This is the prasad specifically associated with Lord Krishna — who is described in scripture as stealing makhan from the households of Vrindavan. It is offered to the deity and then distributed to devotees.

11. 11

    Note: Makhan-Mishri is the prasad most directly associated with Lord Krishna and the Braj region — the scripture describes Krishna as a child stealing freshly churned butter from the gopis of Vrindavan. The simple prasad of fresh hand-churned butter with crystallised sugar is distributed at Bankey Bihari temple, at ISKCON Vrindavan and at hundreds of Krishna temples across the Braj region on Janmashtami (Krishna's birthday) and every Monday. The fresh butter must be freshly churned — the commercial butter from a packet is not used for prasad.