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.

The project begins. Umami Tasting Parsnips – Episode 1.

This last Friday, the project began. My wife decided, it’s got to be straight forward and not to complex. Also, something that we could all enjoy. So the menu was set. Chicken and Tomato Pizza, Potato Salad & Garlic Bread. She wanted to squeeze in a chocolate cake as well but I gave her the look. This is the first day lady, and she realized she is getting a little carried away with it. I could see she was hiding her excitement but its this same attitude of hers which keeps pushing us all to do better every next time. Lets Learn Urdu is one of her such example projects, where she keeps stretching the limits for our elder one. She is the woman behind this successful man, for sure.

Anyway, back to the topic. So I got my Chef’s Hat ready, my Red shirt and the apron (it still needs a UTP logo) and we got going. I peeled potatoes first and chopped them down and put them in to boil. You need to put half a teaspoon salt in the water for some reason. It helps it get soft and slightly salty.

Then I got to the Pizza dough. Lots of punching and kicking on the dough to make it behave. My wife told me that Italians, the so called maestros of Pizza making, bang the batter while holding from one side, so it stretches. I particularly enjoyed this part, cos I believe that was the only element of violence that I got during the whole episode. My manly ego was satisfied. We put a little olive oil, some normal cooking oil and flour with a small packet of yeast. When the dough was round and plump and had had its share of beating for the day, it was left to swell from the wounds.

While I was kicking the dough’s ass, my daughter comes and asks what’s going on? Obviously the sound of beating got her distracted from her cartoons. I used this situation to my advantage. This dough has not taken care of her sister and also not been a good girl lately. So it’s getting a beating. Then I went bang and bang and I think the message sank in pretty well with few gulps. That reminds me of a story from a Sindhi drama which I will keep for some other day. Its related to pillow beating.

Next came cutting the capsicum and tomatoes for the pizza and also shredding the cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese. All this was done while the potatoes boiled. I checked the softness of the potato and when the knife can go in smoothly through, they are ready to be soaked dry. They were pulled out and left to dry through a steel net.

A little time later, the Pizza dough, started screaming for attention as the wounds were paining and swollen. We were looking at some thick crust to be cooked. A little bit more kicking and punching and the dough was ready to be laid down. I mean, like strolled through the roller and made into a circle. This is where I used one of the tricks used to make it a perfect circle. Wonderfully, even my wife didn’t know that one. Moment of pride. See you stretch it and stretch and then you cut a circle around it with a knife. The extra dough at the end is then put in the middle again and rolled further in. This is what they don’t show you in cooking shows. They can do their pizza flipping and height reached etc but they don’t show you how they make it into a perfect circle.

Anyway, it was rolled over and then a joint effort to place it on the Oven tray. I laid down the Pizza Sauce using my hands and fingers to ensure the sauce reaches where it should. This is something that mayG had done a day earlier. Next time I ll prepare the sauce myself also. Next came the cheddar cheese, boiled chicken pieces (shredded) and on it the capsicum, tomatoes and olives. On top came the mozzarella cheese. It was ready to go in. The oven was heated.

Mozzarella cheese has no real taste. It is just to bring the stretchy cheese effect we see in advertisements. The pizza tastes just as good without it but…Consumer brainwash. Man.

While the oven heated, I whipped the mayonnaise, cream and some seasoning into a thick paste for the potato salad. This was yummy. I almost had it all while whipping.

The oven heated and the pizza went in with a lot of prayers. I got to the Garlic Bread after that. Long french loaf, cut slanted (my touch) needs to be filled with a paste. This paste was made from one Garlic clove, 2 slices of butter and olive oil. A little seasoning. A lot of mashing and when the butter melts, its ready. The french loaf is not cut all the way through and rather left right till the bottom so that the loaf stays together. Then the paste is slid into the cuts. This is a skill that I developed on the job. Once done, its put into an aluminium foil and snuck into the oven.

Final touches on the potato salad where the potatoes were mixed with the paste made earlier with a spoon as the potatoes are too soft to be used with anything else. A little leaf on the top (for the look) and the salad was ready.

After a little while, the Pizza started screaming, let me out and we got it out. A little overdone but still yummy. I couldn’t figure out exactly how long we put it but I believe we kept it 2 minutes too long. Anyway, it wasn’t as bad as it may sound. This Pizza was filled with stuff on top, soft through the rest and it needs some teeth at the bottom of it. Not the crispy kind but something that you can’t melt in but need a bite. I personally liked the touch, I would like to get the same effect again every time.

Anyway, we set the table, Pizza in the middle, Garlic bread on side of it and Potato Salad. A job well done by UTP and appreciated by the wife. I have actually done it folks. The fear is gone now. I can take on any dish that comes next.

It became such a large pizza that we had it for dinner, breakfast next day and also for lunch and dinner the next day. It was approximately 20 inches in diameter and really thick. So that’s my plan. Cook something on Friday which lasts through the weekend so its a relaxing Saturday.

Feel free to get in touch with me on any further details cos I couldn’t write them all in. Wow!! I did it. I don’t believe it.

What’s the deal with the title, you ask? Well its name of the new category on UTP. I have just initiated a self-project. It may not involve Umami or Parsnips, but its sure involves a lot of tasting and well mainly cooking.

Yes folks, UTP is facing his worst fear. His most hated thing. His punishment for life. His nightmare about hell. I am entering the realm of cooking.

I don’t know why I am doing this yet. But I am. I think I was inspired by the movie Julie & Julia and not because of cooking but more with being inspired to blog. However, that has led me to think, what the hell is this cooking thing that women boast about and we men (well most of us) hate?

Considering all the head chefs of pretty much all big cuisines of the world, talk Five-Star, Seven-Star hotels, talk celebrity cooking shows, males dominate this market. Yet the average male at home, prefers to bum around, watch sports and pretty much do anything but go near the cooking area of the house also known as the kitchen.

The kitchen for most men is where the food is.

Well its true cos you got the refrigerator and cabinets with all the food stuff in. What most women would want us to know is that there is a dish washer, the stove and oven is there as well and not to mention the kitchen sink and the garbage bin as well.

Well its a long list so I have decided to at least get one major one under my belt. That is cooking. For people who have known me for a while, they would know this was pretty much the last thing I would have wanted to do on my list. So here’s my answer to that. I like to surprise people. Surprises have always worked for my marital relationship. This one is no different.

The day I told my wife, I want to do a cooking project with her help, she was at first in the “Yeah…Yeah…” mode. But when I told her how I had planned it all. One dish every weekend and I do everything on my own. You just guide me. I had my cooking chef hat, a souvenir from Nanta and I need an apron with the UTP logo on it. She suggested I wear the Red shirt I have always had while cooking so it goes with the Red tape on the Chef Hat. I don’t mind that. But seeing the plan I had, she knew I meant business and well how I made her fall in love with me again is something that she’ll write about. I don’t mind being the spotlight at all. But you already know that by now.

This is of course going to lead to a series of Posts as well so I needed a category. I decided its got to be something that abbreviates UTP. I am pretty much obsessed with my initials. So I went across googling for cooking vocabulary for words starting with U, T and P. I wasn’t disappointed at all. I actually found a website whose title was “Cookabulary”. Now is that perfect or what?

So as the title of my post says. The category is Umami Tasting Parsnips.

I like the name. Umami is the fifth taste that the Japanese have come up with after sweet, sour, salty & bitter. I think I would like the taste if I cooked it, as explained on the website I just linked to above. Parsnips is a root vegetable, something like carrots. But that is not why I selected it. My “rational” reason to select it was because it looks and sounds like a brief version of “partnership”. Yup, that’s my logic, like it or not.

This is going to be a partnership. A moment of bonding, every week. I look forward to it. I hope to keep this entertaining as we go along for you as well. Wish me Luck.