Chapshoro

Chapshoro is a Pashtun meat pie, a specialty of the Chitral valley and Pashtun regions of Pakistan's northwest. It is made by rolling a thin wheat dough, filling it with minced meat (beef or lamb), diced onions, tomatoes, coriander and green chilies, then folding it into a half-moon and baking in a clay oven or pan-frying. The dough is thinner than a naan but thicker than a wrapper, crisp on the outside and soft within. The filling cooks in its own juices inside the sealed pie, the tomato and onion creating a sauce that moistens the meat. Chapshoro is sold in Chitral bazaars and Pashtun tea houses, eaten as a main meal with a cup of green tea (kahwa) or salted yogurt drink (namak lassi).

Crisp, golden pastry giving way to a juicy, intensely spiced meat filling with sweet onion and tart tomato, green chili cutting through. Eaten hot, folded in the hand, with tea.

The technique is a thin filled pastry, baked or fried. The dough is wheat flour, water, salt and a little oil, kneaded and rested. It is rolled into thin rounds. The filling is minced meat mixed with diced onion, tomato, coriander, green chilies, cumin, salt and pepper. A spoonful is placed on one half of the round, the other half folded over, and the edge crimped. The pie is baked in a clay oven for 15 minutes or pan-fried in oil for 3 to 4 minutes per side until golden. The sealed edge keeps the juices inside, and the filling cooks in its own steam. The dough must be thin enough to crisp but thick enough to hold the wet filling.