Chhhannnggg….The sound is familiar-- like a curtain of raindrops descending on a tin roof. I am about to part
curtain and look out of window, when aroma floats in. Conjuring images of twilight, soft breeze, cows coming home-- bells jingling around their necks… dinner laid out on a chatai (straw mat) on kitchen floor--light yellow rice peppered with mustard seeds and soaked in home-made ghee…
I am led by nose…into kitchen in vaidya Ramakant Mishra's home. A symphony of flavour is playing there. The big round wok on stove, with curry leaves and cumin seeds crackling inside clear golden ghee, sending out sound that I mistook for rain. And aroma. Again aroma.
I don't mean to sound dramatic. But don't blame me if I do. There are smells that send you crazy. The first whiff of rain that rises off earth. The fresh scent of water-sprinkled cilantro. Ocean-mist. Daffodils. And ghee.
"Almost everything I like is either sinful, illegal or fattening" said Oscar Wilde. And isn’t that true of most things in life--chocolate, fries and streaking on beach, to name a few. Happily, ghee isn't among them. It's delicious and it's actually good for you.
Ghee is everywhere in Indian life. For centuries, Indian women have used carbon from ghee-lamps as a protective eyeliner. Mothers massage their newborns with it, to make their skin supple. The no-fail Indian remedy for an upset stomach is ghee-bhaat (boiled rice) with a pinch of salt. Because ghee can transport particles into cells, many Ayurvedic formulations use it as a base. Ghee is fat that lights lamps of temples--no other fat is considered more auspicious.
But superstition is not just why Indians love ghee. Renowned vaidya Dr Ramakant Mishra, who heads product research at Maharishi Ayurveda International, says Ayurveda discovered role of ghee in well-being centuries ago. So beneficial is this fat that vaidyas have given it status of a “rasayana”, or pre-eminent healing food.
Ghee is:
Light: That rich, creamy look. You would imagine ghee is a heavy fat. It's not. What is ghee, you may ask. Dehydrated milk-butter without its solids. To make ghee, technologists heat milk butter on a slow fire. All water slowly evaporates. What's left of butter is a clear golden liquid, with solids settled at bottom. The liquid is ghee. Bonus: ghee is so flavorful that just a teaspoon will do more than four tablespoons of any other cooking oil.
