I had never come across this pastry before. I tasted it in Beirut, where a few patisseries claim to have invented it. One called Bohsali gave it the name Bohsalino; another calls it Taj el Malek. It involves a little skill—akin to pottery making—that improves with practice. In Lebanon they are filled with the thick cream that rises to the top when rich buffaloes’ milk is boiled. They do not keep more than a few days because of the cream and must be kept in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Grind the pistachios in the food processor, then add the sugar and rose water (don’t be tempted to put in any more rose water) and blend until it forms a soft, malleable, slightly oily paste. The mix will appear like wet sand at first, but the oil released by the pistachios will bind it into a workable paste.
Step 2
Rub your hands with oil so that the paste does not stick. Take little lumps the size of a small egg, roll each into a ball, then make a hole in it with your finger and enlarge it by pinching the sides and pulling them up to make a little dome-shaped pot.
Step 3
Fill the hole with about 1 tablespoon clotted cream. Put the pot down on a plate rubbed with oil and make a lid for it: take a lump of paste the size of a large olive, flatten it between the palms of your hands, and lay it over the cream. Stick the edges well together and place the pastry flat-side down in a pastry case.
Step 4
Alternatively, you can line tiny cake molds with plastic wrap and press the paste around the sides, fill the hollow with the cream, and cover with a lid.
Step 5
Keep the pastries in the refrigerator—the cream needs to be refrigerated and the paste will firm—until you are ready to serve them, sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar.
variation
Step 6
Do the same with almonds and use 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water instead of rose water.
