Jason's Cooking Club

Bunny Chow, Durban Chicken

Name: Bunny Chow, Durban Chicken
Total time: 75 min
Cuisine: South African
Ingredients: 500 g chicken thighs, bone in, skin off; 200 g onions, sliced thin; 10 g garlic, crushed; 10 g ginger, crushed; 150 g tomatoes, grated; 200 g potatoes, peeled, halved; 1 small sprig curry leaves; 30 g sunflower oil; 18 g Durban masala (or a hot Madras masala); 1.5 g ground turmeric; 1.5 g fennel seed; ½ cinnamon stick; 2 green cardamom pods, bruised; 2 cloves; 1 star anise; to taste salt; ½ (you want 2 quarters) white sandwich loaf, unsliced; 100 g carrots, grated; 10 g white vinegar; 1, to taste green chilli, sliced fine; a small handful coriander, chopped

“Curry in a hollowed loaf, eaten with your hands. Written for two. The bread is not a bowl, it is an ingredient — it soaks as you go and by the end that is the best mouthful.”

from Jason McKinney

South African·75 min·Medium·2 servings

plan ahead · buy an unsliced white loaf, and let the onions take their full 15 minutes

Ingredients

produce

onions, sliced thin200 g
garlic, crushed10 g
ginger, crushed10 g
tomatoes, grated150 g
potatoes, peeled, halved200 g
carrots, grated100 g

meat + seafood

chicken thighs, bone in, skin off500 g

pantry

curry leaves1 small sprig
sunflower oil30 g
fennel seed1.5 g
star anise1
saltto taste
white sandwich loaf, unsliced½ (you want 2 quarters)
white vinegar10 g
green chilli, sliced fine1, to taste

spices

Durban masala (or a hot Madras masala)18 g
ground turmeric1.5 g
cinnamon stick½
green cardamom pods, bruised2
cloves2
coriander, choppeda small handful

Method

01
Heat the oil in a heavy pot. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise and fennel and let them sizzle about 30 seconds, until you can smell them.
“Whole spices first, in hot oil, every time. That is the base of the whole thing and it takes half a minute.” — jason
02
Add the onions and a good pinch of salt. Cook them down over medium heat until they are soft and properly golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Then the garlic, ginger and curry leaves for a minute more.
“Do not rush the onions. Pale onions make a thin curry and no amount of masala later fixes it.” — jason
⧗ 900 min
03
Turn the heat down. Add the masala and turmeric with a splash of water so they do not catch, and cook 1 to 2 minutes.
04
Add the grated tomato. Cook it down until the oil comes back out at the edges, about 10 minutes. That is your signal it is ready for the chicken.
“Watch for the oil splitting out. That is the step people skip and it is the difference between a curry and a stew.” — jason
⧗ 600 min
05
Add the chicken and turn it through the masala. Add the potatoes and just enough water to barely cover. Lid on, simmer gently 35 to 40 minutes, until the potato gives with no resistance and the chicken is falling off the bone.
⧗ 2100 min
06
Meanwhile toss the grated carrot with the vinegar, green chilli and a pinch of salt. That is your sambal. It sits cold and sharp against the curry.
07
Cut a quarter loaf for each of you, then hollow them out, leaving a wall about two fingers thick. Keep the bread you pulled out. That is the virgin and it is the best part.
“The bread should be plain, soft, cheap white. Sourdough is the wrong bread for this and everybody in Durban will tell you so.” — jason
08
Taste for salt and heat. Fill each hollow right to the top so it spills a little. Put the virgin on the side, the sambal next to it, coriander over. Eat it with your hands.
“No cutlery. You use the virgin to mop, and you work down through the bread as it soaks. That is the whole design of the dish.” — jason

you'll needA heavy pot with a lidBox graterA serrated knife

notes — what you'd change next time

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SOUTH AFRICAN · 75 MIN HANDS-ON · MEDIUM

plan ahead buy an unsliced white loaf, and let the onions take their full 15 minutes

Bunny Chow, Durban Chicken

Curry in a hollowed loaf, eaten with your hands. Written for two. The bread is not a bowl, it is an ingredient — it soaks as you go and by the end that is the best mouthful.

— JASON MCKINNEY

Jason McKinney

taught live

not yet rated

the plate

method — 8 steps

01
Heat the oil in a heavy pot. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise and fennel and let them sizzle about 30 seconds, until you can smell them.
“Whole spices first, in hot oil, every time. That is the base of the whole thing and it takes half a minute.”
02
Add the onions and a good pinch of salt. Cook them down over medium heat until they are soft and properly golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Then the garlic, ginger and curry leaves for a minute more.
“Do not rush the onions. Pale onions make a thin curry and no amount of masala later fixes it.”
⧗ 900 min timer
03
Turn the heat down. Add the masala and turmeric with a splash of water so they do not catch, and cook 1 to 2 minutes.
04
Add the grated tomato. Cook it down until the oil comes back out at the edges, about 10 minutes. That is your signal it is ready for the chicken.
“Watch for the oil splitting out. That is the step people skip and it is the difference between a curry and a stew.”
⧗ 600 min timer
05
Add the chicken and turn it through the masala. Add the potatoes and just enough water to barely cover. Lid on, simmer gently 35 to 40 minutes, until the potato gives with no resistance and the chicken is falling off the bone.
⧗ 2100 min timer
06
Meanwhile toss the grated carrot with the vinegar, green chilli and a pinch of salt. That is your sambal. It sits cold and sharp against the curry.
07
Cut a quarter loaf for each of you, then hollow them out, leaving a wall about two fingers thick. Keep the bread you pulled out. That is the virgin and it is the best part.
“The bread should be plain, soft, cheap white. Sourdough is the wrong bread for this and everybody in Durban will tell you so.”
08
Taste for salt and heat. Fill each hollow right to the top so it spills a little. Put the virgin on the side, the sambal next to it, coriander over. Eat it with your hands.
“No cutlery. You use the virgin to mop, and you work down through the bread as it soaks. That is the whole design of the dish.”