Post for a friend ~ Bunny chow for Zelda

I recently started Instagraming my dinner for family and friends in the evenings. I know there are people who get annoyed with it (It's called hide posts, okay) BUT most of my friends and family enjoyed my post. Recent weeks my meals were replays so I didn't really post but due to my private public demand #michellesdinner is going to make a come back.

Now this was a request from a friend who saw my bunny chow dinner and asked for a post. Here it is Zellie!

I use an awesome pre-packaged spice mix from Raaniep Spices. This works differently from a curry

spice mix from Rajah from Roberson Spice or Cartwrights as you build the flavour of the curry with the spices. As a child, I hated “Kerrie en rys” (curry and rice). Every church bazaar, school carnival and fund-raising festival has this and 'boere worsrolle' as a staple. Neither are that great as the tannies are heavy handed with the premix curry.

My mom made this curry and I sighed. But as you grow older you realise curry isn't about a burning mouth but about building flavour with spices. So delicious I decided to use the mix as a guide to an awesome bunny chow.

(I see according to my stats, I have few readers who would not know what a bunny chow is. This South African eat comes from Durban in KwaZulu Natal. We have a huge Indian population there. It's a half to quarter loaf of bread, inside scooped out, with a filling of usually beef. You do get chicken, mutton, even beans.)

Here is my chicken and prawn bunny:

Do exactly what the recipe on the back says except adding the prawns/shrimp. (I used 800g chicken breast as I had 200g prawns)

I feel though like there is a lot of leeway with some ingredients to make it your own like adding some frozen mixed vegetables or adding a carrot, broccoli or cauliflower.

Hollow out the bread. I serve it with the inside to soak up and eat with the filling. Think of it as a bread bowl. Don't hollow it out too much as you need the loaf to keep it's structure and keep the saucy meat mix.

When the potatoes are cooked add the prawns until cooked then thicken the sauce because prawns/ shrimp sometimes have a lot of residual moisture from defrosting. (I'm not Ina Garten. I buy the frozen stuff)

Fill the bread. Enjoy.

This is actually enough for 4 to 6 people depending on your loaf size. Here are some tips:

1. Curry too hot? Add some plain yoghurt or sour cream. That should mellow out the flavour.
2. Like it spicy? Serve immediately. The longer you cook the spices the milder it becomes.
3. Want it hotter? Chop a chilli and add it towards the end of the cooking time.
4. With this recipe you don't need to precook or boil and of the meat. All that flavour stays inside the sauce. (Pre-boiled chicken always tastes less appetizing ass all the flavour is in the water)
5. Instead of adding just water to your filling if it's cooking to dry, add some chicken stock. (I wanted to put a wine but no article I read was decisive. Most want beer. Another common one was pinot grigio. But I'm not going to a bottle store for that shit)
6. Eating some of the hollowed out bread also stops the filling from burning too much
7. Change the filling up as you wish. Try ostrich mince, cubed beef, or even veg out with some beans.

Raaniep Spices also have spice mixes for bobotie, pork and breyani. They can be found in most Spars and I once saw at Pick n Pay. Hope this assists you Zellie!

Ever had a bunny chow in KZN?

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