Easy recipe: Bunny Chow

 How to prepare bunny chow (Photo: Durban's Best Spices)

Bunny Chow is said to have originated from a large Indian community in Durban on the East Coast of South Africa. Although there are many conspiracies around the origin of this meal, what remains the same is that the Indians used white bread to accompany their meals. This meal also known as Bunny is now one of South Africa's main street foods.

Bunny Chow is a hollowed loaf of bread that is filled with various curries and eaten that way as a meal. The loaf is meant to soak in the juices from the curry. Curries can go from beef, and chicken to vegetables.

So any recipe you decide to try will work out perfectly. Here are the ingredients you will need to prepare chicken Bunny Chow:

Whole loaf of bread cut into two halves.

Three tablespoons of vegetable oil

One the star anise flower

One cinnamon stick

Four cardamom pods

One large onion

Six cloves of garlic

One stem of ginger

kg of boneless chicken

One teaspoon of red chilli powder

One teaspoon of paprika

One teaspoon of coriander

teaspoon of turmeric powder

One teaspoon of cayenne powder

teaspoon of Garam masala

One teaspoon of cumin powder

teaspoon of salt

teaspoon of green chilli paste

One large tomato

Two potatoes cubed into small pieces (fried preferably)

Coriander leaves for garnishing at the end

Two tablespoons of lemon juice

One cup of water

Method:

In a nonstick pan under low heat, add your star anise flower, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods and let them heat up for 2-3 minutes while stirring to ensure they evenly heat up to bring out their flavours. Then add your vegetable oil and let it heat up for a few seconds since the pan is already hot.

Then add your finely chopped onion and continue stirring the mixture. After two minutes of stirring, add your garlic and ginger paste and continue stirring for two minutes. Remember the heat should be low. Then add your boneless chicken, remember to cut them into small pieces, and continue stirring for three minutes.

Then to the mixture add; the red chilli powder, paprika, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cayenne powder, garam masala, cumin powder, salt and the green chilli paste (The measurements are above on the ingredients you need). All these are added at once to the mixture, then continue frying for about 4-5 minutes.

Then add your grated tomato to the mixture and continue stirring, then add your fried potatoes and continue stirring the mixture. Then add your lemon juice to the mixture and continue stirring while you pour small portions of water into the mixture to allow it to cook till thick enough to your liking. Do not use a lot of water when cooking, the curry needs to be very thick to allow it to soak in the loaf. Once ready, add finely cut coriander leaves to the curry and stir.

For the loaf, use a knife to divide it into two halves. Hollow out your loaf using a knife, then fill in the hollowed portion with your curry to the top. Garnish with some chopped coriander on the top and squeeze lemon juice to the mixture too.

Serve while hot. Enjoy!