Chatamari

Chatamari is a thin Newar pancake made from rice flour, cooked in a pan and topped with minced meat, egg or vegetables. It is a dish of the Newar people of Nepal, and its open, topped form has led many guests to call it Nepali pizza. The base is a crepe rather than a bread dough, so the two dishes differ more than the nickname suggests.

What it really is

A thin batter of rice flour and water is poured into a hot pan and spread into a crepe, usually cooked on one side only. While the surface is still soft, the cook adds the topping: minced meat, egg or vegetables, with onion and chilli for flavour. The pan cooks the base and the topping together, so the edges turn crisp while the top stays soft. The base has no yeast and does not rise, which keeps it thin and crisp rather than puffy.

Chatamari is not a bread. It is a pan-fried rice-flour crepe, and its name for guests is the topping it carries, not the dough beneath it.

How it's served

• Hot from the pan, while the edges are still crisp.
• Whole or cut into pieces and eaten by hand, as a snack or a light meal.
• With a chilli relish or pickle alongside, if the kitchen offers one.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the topping and the meat in it, such as buffalo, chicken or goat, and list the vegetable version on its own line.
• Flag eggs, which are standard on many versions. The rice-flour base contains no wheat, but confirm that no wheat flour is added to the batter.
• State the chilli level, and say whether the meat and vegetable versions are cooked in the same pan and oil.
• Write "chatamari (Nepali pizza)" so guests searching under either name find it.