Ghee-licious! by Shubhra Krishan

Chhhannnggg….

The sound is familiar-- like a curtain of raindrops descending on a tin roof. I am about to part the curtain and look out of the window, when the aroma floats in. Conjuring images of twilight, soft breeze, the cows coming home-- the bells jingling around their necks… dinner laid out on a chatai (straw mat) on the kitchen floor--light yellow rice peppered with mustard seeds and soaked in home-made ghee…

I am led by the nose…into the kitchen in vaidya Ramakant Mishra's home. A symphony of flavour is playing there. The big round wok on the stove, with curry leaves and cumin seeds crackling inside the clear golden ghee, sending out the sound that I mistook for rain. And the aroma. Again the 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 the 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 the 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 the fat that lights the lamps of temples--no other fat is considered more auspicious.

But superstition is not just why the Indians love ghee. Renowned vaidya Dr Ramakant Mishra, who heads product research at Maharishi Ayurveda International, says Ayurveda discovered the role of ghee in well-being centuries ago. So beneficial is this fat that vaidyas have given it the status of a “rasayana”, or pre-eminent healing food.

Ghee is:

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BIO:

Shubhra Krishan is a journalist from India, now based in Colorado Springs. She specializes in writing about Ayurveda--a system of healing that originated in India more than 5000 years ago. Her articles on Ayurveda can be found at www.mapi.com and http://ayurvedix.tripod.com

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