Ghee vs. butter in Indian curries
Ghee is butter minus the milk solids and water, but it's not the same as clarified butter because it goes through a second phase of the process which browns the solids and imparts flavour to the remaining oil.
Clarified butter, heat until solids separate and settle, strain.
Ghee, heat until solids separate and settle, the increase heat until solids brown, strain. This adds a 'nutty' flavour.
The smoke point for the two is the same, but the flavour is different.
Ghee is not fully shelf-stable. It has a life-span of weeks to months in the fridge. Commercial ghee of course will have a best before date it would be wise to adhere to.
It will not last indefinitely &amp; will (I think) go rancid after long storage… whatever it does chemically, it will certainly ruin a meal if you use it after it's turned. You can't see it, but you can smell it's changed.
BTW, you can get vegetable 'ghee', which is considerably cheaper. Many BIR kitchens use it. It's basically vegetable oil (often palm oil) with 'butter flavour'.