Meera Sodha’s recipe for vegan bunny chow

Last year, I was lucky enough to have lunch with Madhur Jaffrey, and she was every bit as regal as you’d imagine. Among the things we spoke about, two subjects that struck a perfect chord were how brilliant Mac’s red lipsticks are and how fascinating the food of the Indian diaspora is.

Indians have been leaving the motherland for years, but no matter how well they assimilate overseas, they never quite give up their food culture, instead evolving it to use new local ingredients – be that out of need or because their influences have changed.

Across the world, this has led to some legendary creations, one of which is the bunny chow. This hollowed-out loaf, traditionally filled with a bean curry, hails from Durban, South Africa, home to the most Indians of any city outside India. Although its exact origin is unclear, one story is that in the 1940s, Indian migrant workers, needing a way to carry their lunch, put it in hollowed-out loaves so they could take it with them. Another story suggests that this was an ingenious solution to smuggling food during the apartheid years.

However it came about, bunny chow is now one of South Africa’s most popular dishes and deserves to migrate once more, from India to Durban and from Durban to wherever your kitchen table happens to be.

Bunny chow

I’ve updated the classic Durban dish to use up some of my favourite late-summer vegetables. There are many ways to eat a bunny chow, but in my book by far the best is to tear off the bread in big chunks and dip them in the curry in the middle. You will often come across tins of black chickpeas in the “Asian” aisle of larger supermarkets – they are nutty, musky and often in salted water, so season them discriminately; if you can’t find them, normal tinned chickpeas will work just as well. Serves four.

4 large or 8 small bread buns
3 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 white onion, peeled and finely diced
1 ½ green finger chillies, very finely chopped (deseeded if you prefer your food less spicy)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
600g sweetheart cabbage, finely shredded
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1¼ tsp salt
400g tin black chickpeas, drained (or normal chickpeas)
200g mangetout
200g baby leaf spinach
20g fresh coriander, leaves and stalks finely chopped
1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Cut off and reserve the top from each bun, then scoop out the bread inside (pop this in a freezer bag and freeze for the next time you need to make breadcrumbs). Put the hollowed-out buns to one side.

In a wide frying pan, for which you have a lid, heat the oil on a medium flame, then stir-fry the onion and chilli for about six minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and fry, stirring, for another couple of minutes.

Stir in the cabbage and four tablespoons of water, pop on the lid and leave to cook for about eight minutes until the cabbage is soft and wilted. Stir in the cumin, garam masala, turmeric and salt.

At this point, put the buns and their lids in the oven and set the timer for eight minutes.

Add the chickpeas and mangetout to the cabbage pan, stir and leave to cook for a couple of minutes, then add the spinach handful by handful. Cover the pan again and leave to cook for about five minutes until the spinach has properly wilted, then gently stir through the coriander.

Take the buns out of the oven and scoop the vegetable mixture into cavities. Top with the lids and serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over.