Bunny chow, bread phirni: Try these two yummy bread recipes this weekend

There’s good reason why bread is the most consumed food around the world: it is wholesome, filling and extremely versatile

Bread has been a part of our diet for centuries. Across cultures and geographies, bread-based recipes are in abundance – whether it is the humble chapati or the challah (a Jewish bread). In this edition, our expert chef uses bread to create a popular South African delicacy – bunny chow.

Chef Gupteshwar Patel of Global Chaos (Photo: Satyabrata Tripathy/HT)

South African Bunny Chow

Recipe by Gupteshwar Patel, chef, Global Chaos

Serves: Two

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Bread loaf (Hollowed and toasted in an oven): ½

Boneless chicken leg: 150g

Spinach: 100g

Salt: 1g

Pepper: 1g

Onions: 200g

Onion and tomato paste (Photo: Satyabrata Tripathy/HT)

Tomatoes (chopped): 200g

Turmeric powder: 1tsp

Cumin powder: 1tsp

Garam masala: 1tsp

Chicken stock: 100ml

Ginger: 30g

Garlic: 30g

Oil: 30ml

Method:

1) In a heavy bottomed pan, heat some oil and sauté ginger and garlic paste.

2) Add the chopped onion and tomatoes. Over medium flame, sauté till the onions turn translucent.

3) Add the turmeric, coriander, cumin powders. Constantly stir the mixture so that it does not stick at the bottom.

3) Cook until the masala and oil separates. Now add chicken to this mixture.

4) Once the chicken is cooked, add in spinach paste and chicken stock.

5) Reduce the mixture till gravy-like consistency.

6) Finish with salt, black pepper and garam masala.

7) Take the hollowed bread loaf and fill it with the chicken and gravy.

8) You can also make a vegetarian version by substituting the chicken by Portobello mushrooms.

Bread and pistachio phirni

Winning reader recipe

Bread and pistachio phirni by Prachi Mishra

Ingredients:

Milk: 1 ltr

Bread: 5-7 slices

Pistachio (Crushed): 50g

Milkmaid: 100ml

Rose water (soaked with saffron): 5ml

Sugar: as per taste

Cardamom powder: 1 tbsp

Nutmeg powder: 1 tbsp

Ghee: 1 tbsp

Method:

Boil milk on medium flame.

Meanwhile, slice off the sides of bread, turn the slices into crumbs.

Heat ghee in a pan, salute bread crumbs for a few minutes, till it turns golden brown.

Add pistachio powder to the boiling milk, and cook for five minutes.

Add bread crumbs, and let it simmer some more.

Now stir in Milkmaid, and let it simmer till the mixture thickens.

Add sugar, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder and cook for another two minutes.

Add saffron before serving.

Prachi Mishra, contributor of the winning recipe