New York Spring Nosh Tour (III): Shabalay with a Chipa chaser

I t can be argued that Queens, NY is the diversity capital of the Universe, in terms of ethnic groups and ethnic cuisines.  Where else can you, as I did, in the course of a short stroll, wolf down some Tibetan meat pies followed by a couple of Paraguayan breakfast pastries?  The day after my lunch of Tibetan momos I found myself in the area again and decided to go for the shabalay at Tashi Delek.  (They were spelled peculiarly, "sha-bhag-le" on Tashi Delek's sandwich board, but I was unable to find that spelling anywhere in Googledom, so I'll stich with the more prosaic "Shabalay", small meat pies with a flaky crusts encasing ground beef spiced with onions.  They came four to an order, and were accompanied by the same soup that was served with the momos I had tried the previous day.  They were on the bland side, a bit blander that the Cornish pasties they resembles, whic may be th reason they were served with a spicy chili sauce.

After finishing my shabalay (shabalays?) off, I doubled back on Roosevelt to check out a bakery, La Uruguaya y Paraguaya Bakery, I had passed before lunch.  Most of the goods looked like things you would find at a typical Latin American bakery, but my eyes fell on a plateful of what looked like Twinkie-shaped cornbread on the counter near the cash register, where popular impulse items might be found.  "Uruguayan?" I asked. "No," said the woman, emphatically, "Paraguayan."  Eager to be the first kid on my block to eat anything Paraguayan, I pressed her for more info.  They were not sweet, she said.  She didn't know the English name of the flour they were made from, but it had cheese and onions mixed into it.  Sold!

Some assiduous Googling identifed my find as Chipa Bread, "A bread made from manioc flour. Chipa is a type of bread sold everywhere in Paraguay - on the streets, at soccer games and in chiperias. Made from a mixture of starch, paraguayan cheese and milk"  My chipas also were laced with anise seed.  They were chunchy on the outside, and spongy and chewy on the inside.  They were a few hours stale (the shop woman had warned me that they would be a little "hard") and I can only imagine how satisfying they would be fresh from the oven.