"There?s no need to use full fat butter. Ghee, which is now widely available in the Asian section of supermarkets, makes a perfect substitute and is a much healthier alternative".

I did not know that ghee was not full fat??

Do you mean the 'Vegetable ghee or vanaspati ghee', which is made from peanut and other oils and has been available since I was a child, if not before?

M

Aha - forgot about veggie stuff. Assumed they meant Ghee as in clarified Butter.

Vegetable ghees are hydrogenated oils, originally made only from peanut oil and considered ?not good? for health in India. I remember that when I was a child, my mum hardly ever used ?Vanaspati or Vegetable ghee? because of ?bad? fats in it. For some reason, it was also supposed to cause sore throats/respiratory problems, which I never understood the reason of! Now a days, manufacturers use other vegetable oils in it?s production. It has some vitamins added to it too, to bring it in line with ?pure ghee?, but how much shelf life they (vitamins) have, I am not sure about. This vegetable ghee is not that popular in India in everyday cooking, people either use pure ghee or vegetable oils, leaving this artificial ghee for deep frying only. They also make ?hard? versions of vegetable ghee these days for the bakers, like lard I guess. The other vegetable brands are often called as ?Nakli Ghee? meaning ?not pure ghee? or ?artificial ghee?.

?Pure Ghee?, made from dairy milk, is considered as vegetarian anyway in India, as are all the other dairy products. Cow is worshiped like a ?mother? there, her milk considered life enhancing and beneficial to humans, her children. Most importantly for us Indians, vegetable ghee does not have the ?flavour? of dairy ghee, which is hugely appreciated and prized in Indian cooking :-).

There is of course a problem with amount of saturated fats in ?pure ghee? from cow?s milk, but it also provides health benefits. In Ayurvedic medicine, it has been, and is still, used in many remedies. It has antioxidants, so it is said to gives you some protection against Cancer etc and it provides vitamin A and D amongst other nutrients.

As I have mentioned somewhere else before I am sure, my grandmother not only ate ghee in quite generous portions in everything she cooked, she also added some on top of every dish, almost as a garnish. She used it as hair oil and as a body cream. She had strong bones (vitamin D and Calcium from ghee and milk?) and she lived a relatively healthy life until 95, dying after a very brief illness. She swore by ghee. I learnt recently that it is lactose free, because proteins are burnt off during clarifying of butter. So dairy ghee is said to be okay for lactose intolerant people! I am not sure about it though.

I wouldn?t recommend that you cook everything dairy ghee, but small amount, for special things like ?tarka? in a dal or Halwa etc., is okay as far as I am concerned and as far as your doctor hasn?t asked you to stop eating it. There was a time when I had stopped using it completely, but I do now use it in small amounts in a few things.

Personally, I would rather use rapeseed or other vegetable oils and small amounts of ?pure? ghee, rather than the ?Vegetarian Ghee?.

mamta

Great stuff, Mamta - thanks!

I'm a little wary when ghee is called clarified butter, because it does imply that it is just the fat from butter. But ghee is cooked, so that the milk proteins and lactose react to form flavours similar to roasted/nutty flavours. The lactose is used up (and would not dissolve in the fat anyway), and excess milk solids sink to the bottom of the cooking pot, and are separated when the fat is poured off.

Veg 'ghee' is artificial, and does not have the nutty flavour, but can have 'trans' fats, which are said to be harmful to health. If using fat for cooking (ie hot melted fat) then I would use a 50/50 mix of rapeseed oil and ordinary olive oil (not the extra virgin type). This contains all the omega three and six (in the correct proportions) your body needs, and some.

As Mamata says, a little ghee goes a long way, espcially if it has that deep nutty flavour.

My sister-in-law is lactose intolerant and finds that she has no problems with my ghee, which I make using unsalted Lurpak.

Thank you for that danbob, it is worth knowing.