Food & Drinks

Recreating a Durban Bunny Chow in Korea: A Taste of Home

A Little Piece of Durban in Korea

I might be wrong, but I think I’ve yet to mention that I’m a Durban girlie🥰. The city of eternal summer and home of the Zulu Kingdom on the east coast of South Africa. We also have the best food in the country—yes, I’m biased but it’s true. And a few weeks ago I finally introduced my American friend (Liana) and her Korean husband to a Durban classic, the Bunny Chow. Let’s get into it.

What Is a Bunny Chow?

First and foremost what the heck is a bunny chow and is there actually bunny in it? Worry not, no bunnies are harmed in the making. A bunny chow is simply a curry in hollowed out bread. Durban curries are a cuisine all their own with flavours you won’t find anywhere else, take that and pour it into a hollowed out quarter loaf of unsliced bread and you’ve got yourself a proper Durban dish. My personal fave is a mutton curry bunny but beans, veg or chicken curry bunnies are just as delicious!

The Bread Struggle Is Real in Korea

In South Africa bunny making is pretty simple; buy a loaf of unsliced bread and fill it with your curry of choice. But bread in Korea is not that simple—all us expats have our gripes about it. A lot of the time, bread from a store or bakery is sweet for no good reason!

Calling in a Bread-Making Expert

Lucky for me Liana is (in my opinion) a master bread-maker. So we struck a deal, she’d make the bread and I’d make the curry. I’ve tried making the bread myself before but for one reason or another I couldn’t get the right amount of softness and firmness to my loaves—too soft and you have zero structural integrity but too firm and you end up with a far too chewy bread. Eventually, I cut my losses and brought in an expert.

Watching her work through that dough made it all the more clear that I really don’t have the patience nor the eye for bread making. Knowing when to keep kneading, how much flour to sprinkle, and when to let the dough chill so it starts working with you are clearly things you pick up after years of bread making. And the pictures speak for themselves—just look how pretty that bread turned out! It may have taken some time but it was 100% worth the wait.

A Taste of Home (and a Little Nostalgia)

I’d already made the curry the night before so all I had to do was heat it up while we waited for the fresh bread to cool a bit. We hollowed out our pieces and filled ‘em up with chicken curry—and, of course, we had to have some carrot salad on the side. I don’t wanna get too detailed about how I made the curry because everyone has their own methods (and I’m insecure about my curry-making skills, okay!🙈). The important thing to know is that my spices are authentic Durban spices— Gorima’s to be exact.

And guys…this bunny was so nostalgic I could’ve cried🥹. Before moving I was never a bunny person. The portions just didn’t make sense for me and I prefer rice, but this time I didn’t wanna stop eating it. Not to mention that both Liana and her husband really enjoyed it, too—I’m pretty dang chuffed with myself for having shared a piece of South Africa with them.

Food as a Connection to Home

If you find yourself away from home like me, remember our food is one of the most intimate connections we have to where we come from. Taking the time to make a meal, or even getting some of your new friends involved, makes it all the more special. So that dish your aunt used to make back home, try making it yourself. You might fail, or you might find another way around it but I really hope you never stop trying to bring home to you.