A Winning Booza Arabi

When I was much younger and would spend my summer vacations in Jordan, there wasn't much to do other than walk around and eat. One thing I loved was the traditional Syrian pistachio ice-cream (which we refer to as booza). It's known for its somewhat elastic texture (that makes it sound kind of gross, it's not though, at all).

My parents have been on this long search to find the perfect booza here, and apparently nowhere serves it right. I passed by Arabesq at the Dubai Mall and knew I found the jackpot! There was a typical Arabic drumbeat in the store because one of the employees was using this huge wooden stick to pound the ice-cream in a deep metal cylinder. Does that even make sense? The photo explains it better. The staff are so sweet and very generous with their tasters.

I decided to give the booza a lil pounding and I have to say that I was absolutely useless at it. Not only was I unable to mimic the easy swift movements done by the employee, but the sound I was making was hideous. Definitely not anything Arabic sounding. He didn't even hide his amusement by my lack of talent..

 In any case, despite me traveling with it to Abu Dhabi (which takes an hour), it remained frozen in the well packaged container that it was sold in, and my parents absolutely loved it.

A+ to taste, consistency and appearance!