Saturday, February 23, 2013

What is this?

I have always believed that recipes should be true to their ingredients from each gram of ghee ( clarified butter) to each grain of salt. However as we stepped in 1980 and from then on, there was a big awareness of dangers of butter and of salt all over the world. So, what was I supposed to do?  I started using margarine in place of butter in my recipes and then my husband started using it on his toasts in the morning and eventually we even used vegetable shortening in cookies and a lot of other baked goods. 
A few years ago, it so happened that a loved one brought home a list of foods to avoid in order to lower cholesterol. That list had the words "hydrogenated fats"and foods containing hydrogenated fats.  So we checked every jar of peanut butter in our home and what do you know, they all had partially hydrogenated fats in them.  Then we checked the margarine tub, that too had the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in them. Bad News? No not really. We now shop very carefully, read every single ingredient and have started using natural peanut butter and cooking oils like Canola oil, Olive oil and  vegetable oil.
Now the question still remains. what do I do when I have to make recipes that require Ghee? I started using real butter, except that I use may be a tenth of the required amount and make up for the rest with oils. I used to be embarrassed about doing this, because this was the method used by either people who could not afford "Ghee" or by people who were extremely thrifty. Also a lot of other foods like brown rice and foods with a lot of fiber were used by servants in India. Today I not only eat simple servant  like foods I give them to my husband,( even if he yells at me).  I tell him that we have to get used to this lifestyle and be an example for our children and grandchildren. This life style of simpletons back home is what is good for us all.

5 comments:

  1. Dearest Munir,
    This is so true! Who would ever have thought that we all must read this small printing on products we want to buy. We too eat only brown rice. The only oil we use is olive oil. Yes, at times it will be hard to substitute some butter.
    Thanks for your visit and comment. I had a little procedure done at the hospital and got way behind with blog visits. Take care and stay healthy; that's the most important thing in our lives!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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  2. "This life style of simpletons back home is what is good for us all." Too true! My husband (whose family came from thrifty peasant stock) always says peasant food is the best food. Have you gone back to using ghee? There's some pretty good evidence now that high cholesterol in genetic, and relatively unaffected by cholesterol in foods. Real butter (or ghee) is probably just fine for you, as are eggs. And way yummier than the synthetic stuff.

    Do you ever cook with virgin coconut oil? It's one of my favorite ingredients for almost anything Asian. And it's really good for you.

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  3. Thanks. I never heard of Ghee. Good health to you!

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  4. Thank you for stopping at my blog :) ... and ... I am a Ghee fan, make it myself ... smiles ... Love, cat.

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