Vegan-shmegan. If you are dairy free, but not a vegan, you have the option for the buttery goodness you might miss.
This is a PSA about: GHEE!
Ghee is ultra-clarified butter. Not your regular ol' Lobster butter, which is made by skimming the top of the butter as it cooks slightly. Ghee is cooked until all of the water is out of the butter, and all of the milk solids are removed completely.
Famously the base oil of Indian cooking. If you have ever tried to replicate Indian food and it was not quite right? YOU WERE MISSING THE GHEE. Not to brag...but I eat a LOT of ghee. I use it to cook my eggs, spread on toast, saute my veggies, add to oatmeal, make bullet-proof coffee and obviously, fry bananas (duh. If you have not done this. PLEASE do this). Ghee does not need refrigeration, improves digestion, helps to stabilize the nervous system and has a super high cooking temp, so it won't burn like butter.
Organic ghee, while pricey, is a must, unless you know the farmers personally. Pesticides, antibiotics and other additives will concentrate in the fat of the milk. Ghee is pure milk fat. The butter must be pure to get the positive health effects. According to Ayurvedic principles (traditional Indian Medicine) the butter you make your ghee from should be cultured, cooked over flame and from grazed cows. To have all these things in a ghee is rare, so only a few premium brands will work: Ahara Rasa Ghee this one is organic, grassfed and cultured, Pure Indian foods has a cultured version, but not all their ghee is cultured and Tin Star has a cultured version as well.
Last, ghee is a go to for nearly all the health based diets around: Paleo diet, Ketogenic, Whole30, GAPS, FODMAP and more. So next time you are at the store, skip the refrigerator and look in the international or oils isle for organic, cultured, grass-fed ghee. Do everything with it. It can even soothe a baby's red bottom or sooth dry eyes. It is the most useful cooking oil or spread to keep in your kitchen.
Repeat after me: Canola, Corn and margarine be gone: be OLIVE, COCONUT AND GHEE STRONG!
i love ghee too especially when i cook the toppings for the daal
Oh yes! The tarka. It is so fun to hear the sizzle when you drop it into the dahl!
Tarka? Daal?
Tarka is the spice mix with oil that you make to put on your daal. Was that what you were referring to? Usually, daal is boiled and spices and oil added later. You add the ghee to a hot pan, add your seeds, powders and fresh spices and then dump the hot mix into your nearly cooked daal. This makes a nice sizzle. Some places call it a chonk and others tarka (sp?)
But what is Daal ?
Lovely, you talk about buying it but you also can make it your self? I love to cook indian, but i think there is a lot more to learn love it. !!
Absolutely you can make it. Many people don't take the time to do it. Ghee making is an art. It is not complicated, it just requires some tuning in to the smells and sights of the cooking process and gently adjusting the heat to make the perfect taste. Since it has only one ingredient, the recipe is not difficult, it is more the judgement of the timing and the heat tuning. There is also a bit of preference here, I like to roast mine a little extra to make it more caramelly
Thanks for covering the world in ghee! I'm with you in thinking of it as liquid gold. It's a treasure for sure.
@cabelindsay Thank you for your comment. Live golden. ;-)
What do you think of coconut oil?
It is one of the trifecta I have in the cupboard: Olive, Coconut and Ghee. They all serve different purposes and have different flavors and energies. The Olive has the shortest shelf life, the lowest smoke point and is great for low heat applications. The coconut oil is the second most stable. I prefer the unadulterated raw type, as opposed to the scent-free deoderized type (refined). It gives a lovely flavor which is great in somethings and not in others. Ghee takes the most heat and is the most stable of the oils and will last the longest.
Thank You for the amazing reply!
I have been making ghee for years. The smell in the morning when I open my jar to cook my eggs (from my hens) smells heavenly.
Spread the word of ghee far and wide @iloveghee!! We are all the better for it. :)