Chiko Roll

A Chiko Roll is a deep-fried savoury roll with a cabbage, carrot and beef filling, and a popular Australian takeaway snack. It was invented in the 1950s and is sold hot from takeaway counters, usually eaten in the hand and often with tomato sauce.

What it really is

A Chiko Roll is built from a thin dough casing, made with wheat flour, wrapped around a filling of cabbage, carrot and beef. The roll is shaped into a long cylinder and deep-fried until the outside turns golden and crisp. The filling cooks inside the casing, so the centre is soft and moist while the skin stays crunchy. It is often compared to a spring roll, but its filling, its wrapper and the way it is sold at the takeaway counter make it its own Australian snack.

A Chiko Roll is not a vegetarian food. The beef in the filling rules that out, whatever the cabbage and carrot contribute.

How it's served

• Hot, straight from the fryer, with the casing still crisp.
• Whole and eaten by hand, usually from paper at the counter.
• With tomato sauce, which is the usual condiment, and sometimes with chips beside it.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the filling: beef, cabbage and carrot. Say so clearly if the beef is ever swapped.
• Flag wheat in the casing, and ask the supplier whether the flour, filling or sauces also contain milk, egg, soy or sesame.
• Name the frying oil, since guests with soy or sesame allergies will ask what the roll was cooked in.
• Label it as containing beef, so it is never sold as vegetarian.
• Say whether tomato sauce is included or charged separately.