Mama Hellsbells Shebeen

As promised I am writing about my shebeen themed dinner of last night. Although Wikipedia swears that the word shebeen is used in many parts of the world, I have never heard it used in common speech anywhere other than South Africa so this whole post may be lost on my international viewers, but I will try to keep you informed. A shebeen is an informal (and usually illegal) bar set up in townships in south Africa to accommodate the residents there who were not allowed into "whites only" bars and clubs during apartheid. A shebeen is usually housed in a shack and decor and crockery are usually made from whatever can be found.

Bunny chow also originates from the apartheid era (or the apartheid error as I prefer calling it) when non-europeans workers were not allowed to be served their lunches on plates but were rather given them in a "bowl" made of hollowed out bread. Bunny chow is usually made from quarter or half loaves of bread. This is the only time that I will advocate the use of white bread. Bunny chows in brown bread are just not nice.

The bunny chows we made are probably the most unhealthy things I have ever cooked for guests, but one has to live a little. So called bunnies can be made in one of two ways, either the inside of the bread can be removed and put back on top of filling or the inside can just be squished down, which is what we did. Bunnies are most popular with the Indian community in South Africa and as such are traditionally filled with curry. I made this curry as a filling along with slap chips (french fries which are thick cut and and soggy).

Bunny Chow Curry
1 tin Indian Style tomatoes
1 tin curried vegetables
1 tin tomato, onion and chili mix
1 packet tomato and onion soy mince (200g)
200g spinach washed, destalked and torn

Put all the ingredients in a pot and cover with boiling water. Simmer for twenty minutes.

We had Snoek and Atchar Simba chips for starters and watermelon for dessert. It was quite nice to find old school glass Coke bottles at the local bottle store and of course all beer was served in quarts. A friend tried a twist on the Catemba (Coke and red wine) by drinking red wine and Fanta Grape. It was awful and I wouldn't recommend it!

I really wanted to post more pictures, but trust me you have never known true pain until you have experienced the speed of internet at South African educational institutions. I will try to edit them in later.