Sunday, April 16, 2023

Introducing the Chipati.....a Michigan Street Food #SundayFunday

Whole Wheat Flatbread stuffed with a chopped vegetable salad with a tart spicy red sauce.

Chipati

The Sunday Funday Gang are sharing Local Street Food Recipes......

I was stumped when Sneha of Sneha's Rec ipe invited us to share a local street food.  Here in Detroit we have Coney's and Pizzas that are some of the best around but I had already shared recipes for them.  

In Michigan we have lots of food of which we are proud but mostly they are brand names.  Better Made for Potato Chips, Vernors for Soda, Sanders for Candy.  We have wineries and breweries.  We have the iconic Pastie that could be considered a street food but, alas, I have shared that recipe with you too.  

So I did a google search for Michigan Street Foods and found this article from ABC Food America:

The chipati sandwich is an iconic Ann Arbor, Michigan, creation, developed in the late 1980s at the Pizza House. The sandwich is deceptively simple, with chopped vegetable salad in a warmed pita pocket, but it’s the house’s special tangy red sauce that makes it a standout. Metropolitan Detroit and Ann Arbor are home to a large Middle Eastern immigrant population, and the sandwich’s Middle Eastern influence is evident. Chipati is an Indian or Middle Eastern flatbread made with flax and wheat flours, not dissimilar to a pizza crust. The sauce’s tanginess, too, suggests Middle Eastern influence. There is some debate among University of Michigan students about whether the sandwich is most properly eaten by hand or with a fork. Chicken, turkey, and tuna can be used as ingredients as well.

I was so excited....I had no idea that this sandwich even existed.  I was even more thrilled when I saw that a recipe was included and it is an easy peasy recipe to boot.   

Before I share that recipe though, let's take a look at what street foods the other's enjoy......

  • Chicago Tamale Dog (Mother-in-Law Sandwich) from Palatable Pastime
  • Chipati from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
  • Egyptian Kushari from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
  • Pan-Fried Steamed Buns (Sheng Jian Bao) from Amy's Cooking Adventures
  • Pav Bhaji Recipe from Mayuri's Jikoni
  • Ragda Patties from Sneha’s Recipe

  • Chipati with sauce

    I used store bought whole wheat and flaxseed flatbread for my chipati.  I was serving this up as one of the  appetizers at a family dinner and wanted to save myself some time.  Then it was just a matter of spending a few minutes making the spicy dressing that I spread on the flatbread.

    Chipati

    Add your vegetables of choice, roll it up like a burrito and it is ready to be carried away and eaten.  I cut mine in half and made a tray of them for folks to enjoy while dinner was being prepared.  They were a huge hit.

    Chipati pin

    These make a wonderful complete meatless meal all in themselves but I chose to cut them and serve them as appetizers.  If you are serving them as a main course I would allow for 1 sandwich per person,



    Appetizer, Entree, Vegetarian, Sandwich, Spicy, Street Food
    Entree, Appetizer
    American
    Yield: 18 appetizer portions
    Author: Wendy Klik
    Chipati

    Chipati

    Whole Wheat Flatbread stuffed with a chopped vegetable salad with a tart spicy red sauce.
    Prep time: 10 MinTotal time: 10 Min

    Ingredients

    • 9 whole wheat and flaxseed flatbread
    • 1 c. Miracle Whip
    • 1/4 c. milk
    • 1 T. cider vinegar
    • 1 clove garlic, minced
    • 1 T. minced onion
    • 1 handful parsley leaves
    • 1 handful dill leave
    • salt and pepper, to taste
    • 1/4 c. hot sauce (more to taste, if desired)
    • 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
    • 1/2 seedless cucumber, halved and sliced into half moons
    • 2 tomatoes, diced
    • 1 red pepper, seeded and diced
    • 1 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese

    Instructions

    1. Place the Miracle Whip, milk, vinegar, garlic, onion, parsley, dill, salt and pepper into a food processor and pulse until creamy.
    2. Scoop into a bowl. Stir in the hot sauce. Taste and add salt, pepper and additional hot sauce, if needed. Set aside.
    3. Toss together the lettuce, cucumber, pepper, tomatoes and cheese.
    4. Spread some dressing onto a flatbread. Place some of the vegetable in the center of the flatbread and close up as you would a burrito. Cut in half and place onto a tray.
    5. Repeat until all flatbread is used. Serve immediately with any remaining sauce on the side for people to add as they wish.

    Notes

    Adapted from a recipe found at ABC America.

    Nutrition Facts

    Calories

    47.72

    Fat (grams)

    2.26 g

    Sat. Fat (grams)

    1 g

    Carbs (grams)

    5.19 g

    Fiber (grams)

    1.51 g

    Net carbs

    3.7 g

    Sugar (grams)

    2.94 g

    Protein (grams)

    2.33 g

    Sodium (milligrams)

    255.08 mg

    Cholesterol (grams)

    6.6 mg

10 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Sneha. My son in law and his sister were here and they thought it was very good as well. I had never had Chipati so I'm not sure it tastes like the one you can buy here but it was very delicious.

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  2. Looks delicious! I love that you found a local street food - not an easy feat in the midwest!

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  3. I think I'd risk filling up on the appetizer! These sound wonderful. Now you'll have to hit Detroit and try all of chipati stands!

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    Replies
    1. Ann Arbor is even further for me than Detroit but I can think of worse ways to spend a day.

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  4. Wendy you're lucky to have some sort of street food. If you were to come to Magog, there is no street food as such. Have one little shack selling poutine. Coming to the chipati, what an interesting amalgamation of world cuisine. This one I'm definitely making with my homemade chapati or roti.

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    Replies
    1. I was lucky to have found a street food recipe. I tried making homemade chapati for this recipe but I don't think it called for enough liquid or oil, it turned out very brittle so I ended up buying the flatbread.

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  5. It was not developed at Pizza House in the 1980's. It was developed at Pizza Bobs in the 1970's. Anyone who has ever been to Ann Arbor knows that Pizza Bobs is the original and the best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the information. I was basing mine on the article I quoted so I am glad to have some first hand accounts.

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