Shantaben romanced ghee. She used store-bought buffalo milk ghee and made her own batches of cow milk ghee, with carefully collected milk cream. No matter how thrifty in every other aspect, Shantaben was overly generous with ghee. Her logic was simple (and something I live by too); either use no ghee at all or add dollops of it, there is no middle path with ghee! It is the food of gods, after all! I think she believed that ghee was like a magic potion which healed and cured the body, mind and heart.
On Ekadashi and other vrat days, she began her day with a few dates drizzled with a tablespoon of ghee. The Faraari diet had ladle-fulls of more ghee. Sama chawal/ moraiyo cooked in buttermilk with ghee, yams shallow fried in ghee, rajgira atta (amaranth flour) poories fried in ghee, sabudana khichri tempered in ghee. Her regular diet too had lots of space for ghee. Tuvar daal cooked with kokum, gur and peanuts had tablespoonfulls of ghee. And of course the rotis/rotlis, which just ain't rotis without ghee! She served khatta dhoklas with ghee as a dip. And the the desserts - sooji halwa, mohanthal, maghaz, churma laddoos - all were rich in ghee, lots and lots of ghee. Whatever the main ingredient of the dessert was, sooji, gramflour or wholewheat flour, one cup of that meant one cup of ghee, sometimes even more! Compromising with ghee was unthinkable. Cheating with white oil, was nothing less than a sin. No, she was never overweight even by a kilo. She had a fantastic metabolism and complete faith in the goodness of ghee. Ghee is godly, it cannot do wrong. Simple.
Ba was also a staunch believer of the medicinal properties of ghee. It was her go-to medicine for cuts, burns, tummy troubles, skin problems and headaches. Yes, headaches. I vouch for this one too. Apply cow milk ghee on your forehead like a balm and feel it work on your nerves like magic.
Shantaben was quite happy with the Bengali brands of cow milk ghee. But she preferred to make her own. She carefully collected milk cream for days before beginning the process of churning it into ghee. It was tedious and the kitchen smelt pretty disgusting, but she did not mind. The main reason behind this was that she loved to eat the little burnt bits of milk cream. As crazy as it sounds, she strained her ghee carefully to collect these burnt bits. She loved to eat them with rice.
Her face always lit up after she licked off ghee with her fingers. It was true love.
On Ekadashi and other vrat days, she began her day with a few dates drizzled with a tablespoon of ghee. The Faraari diet had ladle-fulls of more ghee. Sama chawal/ moraiyo cooked in buttermilk with ghee, yams shallow fried in ghee, rajgira atta (amaranth flour) poories fried in ghee, sabudana khichri tempered in ghee. Her regular diet too had lots of space for ghee. Tuvar daal cooked with kokum, gur and peanuts had tablespoonfulls of ghee. And of course the rotis/rotlis, which just ain't rotis without ghee! She served khatta dhoklas with ghee as a dip. And the the desserts - sooji halwa, mohanthal, maghaz, churma laddoos - all were rich in ghee, lots and lots of ghee. Whatever the main ingredient of the dessert was, sooji, gramflour or wholewheat flour, one cup of that meant one cup of ghee, sometimes even more! Compromising with ghee was unthinkable. Cheating with white oil, was nothing less than a sin. No, she was never overweight even by a kilo. She had a fantastic metabolism and complete faith in the goodness of ghee. Ghee is godly, it cannot do wrong. Simple.
Ba was also a staunch believer of the medicinal properties of ghee. It was her go-to medicine for cuts, burns, tummy troubles, skin problems and headaches. Yes, headaches. I vouch for this one too. Apply cow milk ghee on your forehead like a balm and feel it work on your nerves like magic.
Shantaben was quite happy with the Bengali brands of cow milk ghee. But she preferred to make her own. She carefully collected milk cream for days before beginning the process of churning it into ghee. It was tedious and the kitchen smelt pretty disgusting, but she did not mind. The main reason behind this was that she loved to eat the little burnt bits of milk cream. As crazy as it sounds, she strained her ghee carefully to collect these burnt bits. She loved to eat them with rice.
Her face always lit up after she licked off ghee with her fingers. It was true love.
No comments:
Post a Comment