We lived in the first of what would come to be a series of affordable apartments near malls, first Plymouth Meeting and then King of Prussia. It was perfect for our fresh immigrant status. Life was getting exciting. Dad was driving our first new family car — a powder, baby blue Chevy Impala. The car symbolized success, freedom, and a sense of belonging in this new country. And, we could now show my grandfather, who was visiting from his village in North India, that we were — against all the odds — making it.
I received my first lesson on perspective that visit. He liked the car, but he took issue with something that no one thought to hide — our refrigerator. He could not understand why we took food and put it in that contraption to eat the next day — or, god forbid, a few days later — don’t even get me started on the disgust that crossed his face seeing things come out of the freezer, defrost, and make it to our plates. What kind of place is this? He often grumbled in his stern Punjabi. Reminding us at home they went to the market daily for fresh ingredients to make lunch and dinner. There was also house help that did most of the running around. In the U.S., we were on our own . That's another thing that confused him. Why choose to live like this?
In his world, ingredients were procured, cooked, and consumed immediately. There was no refrigerator in our village home — in fact, my grandfather had never seen a fridge, let alone used one. I still remember visiting my mother’s family, who came from a much larger town, and how it felt when they first got a ‘cooler’. It was about as tall as I was, at five foot nothing, and was primarily for a few key ingredients. Rarely, though, did food sit in it to be eaten for dinner again.
This is one reason ghee is so critical, especially in rural India, where there may be limited access to refrigerators and the electricity can still be unpredictable. Though villages have progressed and in our haweli we have installed quite a few amenities, eating leftovers has not quite caught on.
Make ghee - it's simple. Just bring butter to a boil and simmer away the impurities and water content to create a pure cooking substance with a high smoke point that can sit on the counter for months unrefrigerated. It’s better than anything on the market. Trust me.
xoxo Anupy
Cook: 10 minutes
Cool: 30 minutes
Makes: 1½ cups
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[[ recipeID=recipe-2mkcvico2, title=Instant Pot: Homemade Ghee ]]
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by Anupy Singla, Indian As Apple Pie
Servings:
Keywords: Indian Recipes, Butter, Ghee
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