Starting with the Basics

I thought it would be fitting to start with something basic. And baby food is food at its most basic and pure. I'm not talking about the nasty jarred stuff  -- I'm talking about the kind of baby food my Indian mother-in-law taught me how to make. Basically, it is nothing more than mashed up rice and lentils, with a little salt, and the one key ingredient -- ghee. I remember being so anxious for my older daughter to eat when she was a baby. And I would make up a big bowl of this stuff for her, hoping she would eat it and my body would get a break from nursing for a little while. Sometimes she would eat it, a whole two bites. And the rest would be for me. Oh well, it was actually so good, I was always a little glad she left most of it for me. Eventually she grew to want a lot of it, and so did her younger sister. And we all still like to eat rice, lentils, and ghee to this day.

Ghee is butter that has had all the milk solids and water boiled away, leaving just the butter fat, and it has a subtly sweet, nutty flavor. The dish is OK with just plain old butter, but you need ghee for it to taste really, really good. The more ghee you add, the better it tastes. And it's OK to add a lot, because as my in-laws say, ghee is "good for health." The problem is, if you buy ghee in the store, it is obscenely expensive (and it doesn't taste as good, either). So I make my own. It takes about 45 minutes and you have to keep watching it, but if you make a big batch all at once, you have enough to last a long, long time, so it's worth it. And it makes your kitchen smell really, really good too -- like you are being cozied in a blanket of soft, warm, sweet buttery goodness.

How to Make Ghee
Ingredients
2 pounds of unsalted butter

Place the butter into a heavy, large saucepan, and melt under medium heat, turning heat down as needed to keep butter from boiling too much. Keep it to a steady simmer. After the butter has melted and started to boil, a white foam will rise to the surface. This is the milk solids separating from the butter fat. Skim off what you can, and the rest will sink to the bottom and brown eventually. In about 30 to 45 minutes, the foaming will stop and the boiling will be steady, with only a few occasional "hiccups" --  these hiccups are the sound of water escaping from the butter. When the foaming and hiccups have pretty much died down, and there is just the sound of a steady boil, and a sweet, almost carmelized smell emanates from the butter, it is done. Turn off the stove and remove the pan from the heat. The milk solids on the bottom of the pan should be dark brown, but not black. Let the pan sit for a few minutes to cool, then very carefully pour the ghee into a container that can withstand the heat. The liquid should be clear and golden. Be careful not to disturb the milk solid sediment on the bottom of the pan. You don't want the milk solids in your ghee. If you want to be extra safe, you can use a couple layers of cheese cloth to filter the ghee as you pour, but I don't bother. I just pour my ghee into an old jam or spaghetti sauce jar. Let it cool with the lid lightly resting on top. When thoroughly cooled, screw the lid on tightly and store in the fridge or in a cabinet. If the milk solids have been removed, the ghee should not spoil.

To make rice and lentils with ghee: Cook rice, cook lentils. Mix desired proportion of rice and lentils with salt to taste, and mash slightly. Add desired amount of ghee and mix. Eat. (It is best to use lentils that mash easily, like red lentils, or moong dal.) If you are making this for a baby, you can really mash it up, and add water to get it to the right consistency and texture.