Boza –reteta turceasca

Ingredients:

3 water glasses of bulgur 2 small cups (Turkish coffee cup or espresso cup, lets say) of rice 3

water glasses granulated sugar 1 water glass old (previously made) boza or a match box big of

yeast (appeareantly it means bread yeast in paste form)

Preparation:

Bulgur is soaked in abundant amount of water previous night. (Means that it should be soaked

for about 12 hours or so.)The day after, bulgur and rice is boiled to the degree that they are

mashed throughly. Its treated with a mixer and mashed through a strainer.

That mixture is put on top of a stove with low heat. Sugar is added and stirred until it dissolves.

Then taken away from the stove.

It is let to cool to a lukewarm degree. Stirreed from time to time. When its lukewarm, the old boza

or the yeast which is dissolved in lukewarm water is added to the mixture. Its stirred throughly.

The mixture, closed with a lid, in a place around 20-25 °C, is left to ferment for 2-3 days. Its

stirred from time to time. When you observe small bubbles in it, its done. Then, its transferred to

a cool place.

Its served cold. Up to taste you may sprikle ground cinnamon on it.

Some comments:

For the yeast: As its the case in most of the world, here in Turkey general public has no refined

knowledge of yeasts. The recipe calls for bread yeast which is very easy to obtain and it

mentions a glass of old boza as an option which is obviously can serve as yeast to some degree.

Most probably traditionally it was prepared with such a way from the point of the yeast. However,

I'm not sure if the big producers of the day use some other yeast or not. You may do some

experiments if you have some different types of yeast at hand.

For the bulgur-rice and water ratio: The recipe above is blurry for that. You should have tasted a

genuine boza before to adjust it. A recipe calls for 2 cups of bulgur and 21 cups water. That may

give an idea. I'll write my ratio in concrete terms when I try.

Under any condition, if you have never tasted boza before, its very hard -if not impossible- to tell

that what you obtain resembles to genuine boza or not. I'll try the recipe above for myself -

beginning tomorrow- and I hope I can say something in a week or so. Hopefully I may add some

other recipe(s) as well. The one I already wrote is a very basic one.

1 cup bulgur, washed several times3/4 cup sugar1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Starter:7 gr instant yeast1/4 cup warm water2 tbsp sugar

Garnish:Roasted chickpeas (leblebi in Turkish)Cinnamon

Soak the bulgur in water overnight in a large cooking pot. The following morning add more water and cook until the grains are softened over low heat. It takes about 3 hours and add some water little by little time to time. Place a strainer on a large porcelain or a glass bowl. Pour in the cooked bulgur spoon by spoon, and using the back of a tablespoon strain it (picture). Discard the deposit over the strainer every couple of times.

In a small bowl, melt the yeast with water and sugar. Let it rest for 10 minutes so it will be bubbly. Pour it into the strained bulgur and mix well. Cover the bowl with a piece of cloth to ferment (picture). During fermentation, mix it from time to time. It takes about 3 days to get the right smell and sourness.

After the three days, add the vanilla extract and sugar. While mixing, add water little by little to get the right thickness. Consistency should be like soup or 35% cream (whipped). Keep it in the fridge for a night before serving. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top and serve with roasted chickpeas. Store Boza in the fridge.

Makes 6 servings.

* If you want to make more Boza later, keep 1/2 cup of leftover Boza in a glass in the fridge. Next time use this instead of the yeast.* You can also make Boza without using yeast. But it takes more time to get the bulgur to ferment.

Bulgarian  Boza

Nutritious fermented beverage

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Ingredients

5 litters water2 cups flour2 cups sugar1 cup boza (here's the trick, you can't make boza without boza). However, read on for our easy solution.

2 cani de faina2 cani de zahar1 cană Boza (aici e truc, nu pute i face Boza fără Boza). Cu toate acestea, citi i mai ț țdeparte pentru solu ia noastră u oară.ț ș

Preparation

Bake the flour until salmon pink, watch out for overcooking and burning it. Stir while baking. Add a little cold water to it. Add the mixture to the pot with the rest of the water, add the sugar and stir until it starts to boil. After bringing to a boil, stir for another 5 min. Remove from heat, cool it down and add the cup of boza or a cup of the mixture you can use instead (look below for directions how to make it). Keep in a warm place for the next 2-3 days until it ferments. Store in bottles in the fridge after that. Consume cold.

Pregătire

Coace făină până somon roz, ai grija pentru supracoacere i ardere. Se amestecă timp de școacere. Adauga un pic de apă rece. Adauga amestecul în oala cu restul de apa, se adauga zaharul si se amesteca până când începe să fiarbă. După aducerea la fiert, se amestecă timp de încă 5 min. Elimina i de la căldură, se răcească i se adaugă cea că de Boza sau oț ș ș ceasca de amestec se poate folosi în loc (de mai jos pentru direc ii cum să-l facă). țPăstra i într-un loc cald pentru următoarele 2-3 zile până când fermentează. A se păstra țîn sticle în frigider după care. Consuma rece.

Here's what you can use for the fermentation process if you don't have previously made boza.2 tablespoons flour1 tablespoon water1 tablespoon sugarBake the flour until pink, add the water and the sugar. Leave in a warm place for 2-3 days until it ferments. Stir occasionally.

Iată ce pute i utiliza pentru procesul de fermenta ie, dacă nu a i făcut anterior Boza.ț ț ț2 linguri de faina1 lingură de apă1 lingura de zaharCoace făină până în roz, adăuga i apă i zahăr. Lăsa i într-un loc cald timp de 2-3 zile ț ș țpână când fermentează. Se amestecă din când în când.

BOZA /Millet-Ale/

This is a popular Bulgarian drink also typical of other Balkan countries. The boza is a thick, fermented beverage (containing up to 4 percent alcohol) with a sourish or sweetish  taste. The boza is made of various kinds of flour (barley, oats, corn, wheat), but boza of best quality and taste is made of millet flour.

Here follow instructions for making boza at home. The recipe is meant for 5 littres.    

BOZA

Ingredients

5 l water 2 teacupfuls flour 2 teacupfuls sugar 1 teacupful boza or home-made ferment

Directions:

Slightly roast  the flour (to become rosy in colour). Take care not to get it burnt. Mix it with only a bit of lukewarm water. Pour the mixture into the pot filled with the rest of the water and put it on the plate. Add the sugar and leave

the liquid to boil stirring it once in a while. Keep boiling for 5-6 minutes still stirring. Remove the pot from the fire and let it cool. Add 1 teacupful boza or home-made ferment. Leave the mixture in a warm place for 2-3 days to cause fermentation. When the boza is ready, pour it in bottles and store in a cool place (refrigerator).    

 Home-made boza ferment

Ingredients 1-2 spoonfuls slightly roasted flour 1 teacupful tepid water 1 spoonful sugar

How to make the boza ferment:

Mix the slightly roasted flour (take care to keep it from burning) with the water and stir well. Add the sugar. Leave the mess in a warm place for 2-3 days to ferment, stirring it from time to time.

Note: The teacupful of boza or home-made ferment can be replaced by 6-7 moistened and crumbled slices of wholemeal bread /or toast/, or by 6-7 spoonfuls leaven. In this case before storage the boza has to be filtered (without pressing).

There is reason to suppose that for causing fermentation it is also possible to use a mixture of a little bit of yeast, water or milk, and a teaspoonful of sugar, left beforehand to rise.

Obviously, to become a good boza maker one has to experiment.

* * *

The boza ale has recently gained wider popularity. Here follows a quotation from the Bizarre News ezine issue of January 17, 2007:

 

Breast-Enhancing Beer Gains Popularity LONDON, Since Bulgaria joined the European Union, sales of Boza Ale, which claims to give women bigger breasts, has skyrocketed. European men have been purchasing the beer, made from yeast and fermented flour, for European women since the extra taxes were removed with EU participation, Britain's the Sun reported Monday. Bar owners and shopkeepers are also stocking up, the report said. The Sun said a Romanian man, Barmy Constantin Barbu, traveled across the Dunube River just to purchase a case of Boza Ale for his wife. "I really hope I see an improvement," Barbu said.