SA Recipes bunny chow

Making bunny chows !

Origin story:

Rumour has it: Bunny Chow originated in Durban’s Indian community during the apartheid area. Up until 1994, apartheid laws forbid non-white people from entering restaurants, so they took to ordering take-out meals from the backdoors of restaurants. The most popular dish at the time was roti and beans, but roti fell apart easily if not eaten immediately.

Indian shop owners began using loaves of bread as take-out containers for curries and the “Bunny Chow” was born.

Ingredients :

What do you need ?

2 cups vegetable oil
3 onions
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon grated ginger
5 cardamom pods, cracked
5 whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise
3 tablespoons curry powder
5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons salt
5 tomatoes, chopped and pureed
3 potatoes
1 stem fresh curry leaves
2 unsliced firm white bread, halved
Carrot salad (Optional)

Instructions:

How is it made?

Heat the oil in a large wide heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they start to brown. Add the cumin, garlic, ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and star anise, and cook whilst stirring often for around 2 minutes.

Add the curry powder and cook for another minute. Stir in the chicken, coating well with the spices, and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the cilantro, salt, tomatoes, par-boiled potatoes, and curry leaves. Then simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Add additional seasoning, if necessary.

Dig out the center of each bread loaf half in one piece, Keep the inside of the bread for serving. Spoon the curry into the hollow of each loaf half and place soft bread from inside, on top. Serve with carrot salad if desired.

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