Bean bunny chow (South African curry in a bread bowl)
A thick, spicy Durban-style bean and potato curry spooned into hollowed-out chunks of crusty bread, with the bread lid for dipping and a quick carrot relish, street food you eat with your hands.
- 45 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.57 a serving
- 660 calories
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 can diced tomatoes, not drained
- 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 French bread
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1½ cups water
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
Each serving has about 660 calories, 26 g protein, 117 g carbs and 11 g fat, and costs about $2.57 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No kidney beans? Pinto beans or black beans work.
- No shredded carrots? Carrots work.
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the onion 7 minutes, until .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Stir in the garlic and ginger for 1 minute, then the curry powder, garam masala, turmeric and cayenne for 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Add the tomatoes and cook 3 minutes, mashing them with your spoon.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Add the potatoes, both beans, water and 1 teaspoon salt. 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the potatoes are tender and the curry is thick enough to hold on a spoon.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 20 min
Dolly’s tip: Bunny chow curry has to be thick or it soaks through the bread. Cook it down if it’s runny.Meanwhile, the carrot with the vinegar and of salt.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Cut the bread into 4 chunks. a lid off the top of each and pull out some of the soft middle to make a bowl.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Spoon the curry into the bread bowls, scatter cilantro over the top, and serve with the lids, the pulled-out bread and the carrot relish on the side.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Instant Pot tofu and potato curry
55 min
Japanese-style chickpea curry
55 min
Chickpea tikka masala
45 min
Coconut chickpea curry
50 min
Vegetarian dinners ›Cozy comfort food ›What to make with carrots and potatoes ›What to make with canned tomatoes and carrots ›What to make with canned tomatoes and potatoes ›