Dish#2 – Boussree

Never heard of the word? Boussree. I don't blame you. Its the local name probably known in the not-so-small Memon community of Pakistan. We got it from my maternal grandma and my mother. We have grown up having Boussree for breakfast on the weekends. It was such an important part of my life that my mother ensured that my wife learnt it before proceeding further in our marital life. I am sure the sanctity of the dish is now clear.

So I thought I need to learn this one. So here we are folks, UTP made Boussree today for breakfast.

Firstly, lets get the spelling of the name right. I wanted to create the right spelling so 9 out of 10 people pronounce it correctly. First I thought I should write Bussree. But then thought about 7 out 10 people would read that as School Bus and Ree which is not how its pronounced.

Then I thought I'll make it Boosree and then I thought still about 5 out of 10 people would question the halal nature of the dish due to its easy relation to booze. I would probably need a fatwa issued to assure the audience that the dish is edible and yes indeed halal.

So I finally made it Boussree. Just ensure you don't go Bo-uss-reee. Make it two syllable with no rolling of the tongue to make it Bouss-ree. That's the best I could do. Hope you got it.

Anyway, lets get down to how its made. Its a sweet roti or a sweet roti sandwich. If you know sweet roti or "mithi" roti then just know this one is a two layered roti with sugar sandwiched in the middle and way much softer.

First make the dough. One Buoussree takes 2 small cups of flour and a pinch of salt. Put some water on a ratio. Put a little and feel the flour. The flour talks to you when its thirsty. Don't put too much water or it gets sticky. If you do so by mistake then add more flour. You can't have flour sticky at all.

I didn't have to beat the flour that much like I had to for the pizza. This was much easier however, interestingly, my daughter snuck up and asked, is the dough been bad again? You'll only get this joke if you read the pizza post which I did for last week's cooking.

Leave the flour after its  nice and round and it will dry up a bit to get rolled. Then pat a little water on it and punch the dough a little more. Pull out half a lump out so you leave half more for the second layer and start rolling the half lump. Put some dry flour to make sure it doesn't stick to the floor and keep rolling.

The first roll need not be an exact circle as its gonna be done over anyway. Once you have rolled it to an approximate circle or oval or pyjama or basically any shape, read and then apply the secret move.

Now, I ll let you in on the secret move. Put some oil all around and cut one slit from the centre to the edge of the circle. Then roll over the whole thing so it becomes a 3-d Conical figure. Pull out a lump of flour from the pointy side and compress the rest in your hand. This ensures the oil merges into the flour. There is no better way in history known as yet to do this. This has come to us from generations and down to my mother to my wife. Then squeeze using both thumbs, both palms to make it a small circle and roll it again into a circle. Smart eh?

Once its a circle keep it on the side and do the same as mentioned above with the other lump for the second layer. Only on the second layer, when you are done with the secret tip on top, put sugar well balanced all across. This is the same as putting jam on toast only much stickier. You thought jam was sticky. Spread the sugar evenly and when done, bring the first layer that you had rolled and place it nicely on top of it. Its needless to say that both the circles should be 95% the same size.

When you are done with this, you would have a sandwich of 2 rotis with sugar in the middle. Sounds yummy already but here is another important trick that makes this dish what it is. When making a round sandwich ensure the edges are really thin and tight. Start twisting the edges in with just one finger, the index finger. If you try this with any other finger or anything else (don't get creative...), it will not have the effect required. Twist all the way around and the edges should start looking like curlies or macaroni curls.

The frying pan should be made hot for a little while and then put some Ghee in it. Yes this dish is not for diabetic or cholesterol conscious people. Its sweet and oily. Sorry, I should have probably told this earlier. Fry the round sandwiched rotis until they are golden brown. Put more ghee if required depending on how oily you want it. I prefer, not too much though.



Voila, its done. Yes, short and sweet (literally). It usually is better to cook 2 small Bousrees (4 lumps ~ 4 layers) instead of a big Bousree. Cut the circle in 4/6/8 pieces depending on the size and enjoy it. This dish is enjoyed more with milk tea instead of coffee and is more of a breakfast dish.

The same method can be used for cooking Minced Meat Bousree, Aaloo (potato) Bousree or any other filling that you like. Just replace the sugar with any item. Then it could become a lunch or dinner item as well. Ensure to get raita (spicy yogurt) if you want to make this with anything meaty or veggie.