Buss Up Shot Roti

The Cultural Story

The name tells you everything. Buss up shot — burst up shirt — refers to the method of finishing the roti: as soon as it comes off the tawa, it is attacked with two spatulas or the backs of two wooden spoons, beaten and slapped until the layers burst open and the roti is transformed into a pile of shredded, soft, flaky rags. It looks destroyed. It is perfect. The technique of layering a paratha roti with fat and folding it repeatedly before rolling it out produces the many layers that, when beaten open, create the soft, pull-apart texture that makes buss up shot ideal for scooping curry. It is always eaten with curry — chicken, mango achar, dhal, channa — and the roti's job is to be a vehicle, which it performs with exceptional grace. Indian indentureship brought the paratha technique to Trinidad in the 19th century. What Trinidad did with it — the specific fat, the beating technique, the culture of roti shops where you order at a window and receive your curry in a banana leaf — is entirely Trinidadian. There are now roti shops in New York, Toronto, and London, all serving the diaspora, all doing their best to recreate the experience of standing at a counter on a street in San Fernando with a warm parcel in your hands.