Ethiopian Spiced Butter, Niter Kibbeh in Ethiopian, and Tegelese Tesmi in Eritrean, has an incredible depth of flavour that imparts an almost mysterious bouquet to anything you cook it with.
If the butter is cold, cut it into large cubes. Place the butter in a medium heavy based saucepan.
Add all the other ingredients and heat on medium-low heat to melt the butter. This will take about 5 minutes.
When the butter has melted, lower the heat down to low and continue cooking. You'll immediately start seeing a thin white layer forming on the surface. These are the milk solids. They will start to foam but shouldn't boil over at the low heat. The foam will then break up into little clusters and continue to dissipate as the water cooks off. This will be around the 15 minute mark, give or take.
At around the 20 minute mark, the bubbling would have calmed down considerably, and this tells us that the water has all gone. Because we have "impurities" in the butter, in the form of our onions, etc, the bubbling won't altogether cease. Using a fork, take out the onions, garlic, ginger and bay leaf and leave them aside to use as topping on some other recipe. Leave the peppercorns.
If you are aiming for a rich golden colour, it's time to stop. You shouldn't have much foam at the surface, but if you do, skim it off but don't worry too much about it, as we will be straining it. If you fancy a darker colour and flavour, leave it cooking for another 10 - 20 minutes. The longer you leave it, the darker the colour. Keep an eye on it, as around the 45 minute mark, you'll be burning the fat. And we don't want that, as it will be bitter.
Triple line your strainer with a cheesecloth or muslin and place it over a glass bowl.
Pour the clarified butter in to strain. Repeat for a clearer looking product, you can use the same cheesecloth.
Store it in a sterilized jar, cool to room temperature and store in the fridge. Will keep for 3 months in the fridge. It will harden in the fridge.
Notes
The Nutritional chart is based on per serving = 1 Tablespoon = 15ml.