Ghee

The word ghee is widely used in the Subcontinent for clarified butter and now, by extension, for any stable saturated cooking fat, whether vegetable or dairy based. The virtue of clarified butter is that it keeps well without refrigeration. It can be used for cooking and can also be drizzled or brushed on after cooking as a flavoring (for example, over freshly cooked rice or on flatbreads). In Hindu beliefs, ghee made with pure butter has cleansing and purifying qualities, and it is used in offerings and in the preparation of ritual foods. It was a major export from southern India to Rome in the first two centuries of the modern era, transported in leather bags. Ghee is widely available in health food stores and in South Asian groceries. See for a recipe.