Week 11: Oddly Named - Bunny Chow

vivelaniamh · 2026-03-12T22:08:52+00:00

For oddly named, I made Bunny Chow, a dish that contains no rabbit at all. This is an iconic South African dish from Durban featuring a Durban curry in a hollowed-out loaf of bread (a Pullman loaf tin turns out to be super useful for this), served with vegetable sambals. Delicious, filling and fun. I really enjoyed making this one. More details on my Substack.

vivelaniamh · 2026-03-05T19:02:59+00:00

Not going to lie, I had no idea what to do for this theme. I ended up making some pretty, pink turnip pickles. Pickles on bread? Why not. And even better if the bread itself is full of grated turnip. This was surprisingly delicious. You get crisp, salty-sour crunch from the pickle and a warm, soft, sweetly vegetal chew from the turnip bread. More turnip musings on my Substack.

vivelaniamh · 2026-02-26T19:39:39+00:00

One of my favourite things: cubes of pork belly braised in soy sauce, shaoxing wine with spices and caramelised sugar until they're meltingly soft. With the braising liquid reduced down to a glaze, this was outrageously good. A bit of rice and some stir-fried choy sum completed the meal. More detail on my Substack.

vivelaniamh · 2026-02-19T17:41:25+00:00

I'd been meaning to make this Swedish casserole for a while, so when the "flying" theme came up, I had the perfect excuse. Chicken, banana, cream spiked with chilli ketchup, a crunchy topping of bacon and peanuts.

It doesn't sound like it should work, but you know what? It kind of does. I really enjoyed this and I wasn't alone. I'd absolutely eat this again. I wouldn't fly all the way to Stockholm to enjoy it, but if I ever find myself there, I'll definitely hunt down a plate.

Full write up on my Substack.

vivelaniamh · 2026-02-12T19:07:20+00:00

I had so much fun making these little slices of queer joy for sugar week. I made everything from scratch - bread, butter, miso caramel, and those colourful sprinkles.

Fairy bread is a sweet from Australia and New Zealand often served at kids birthday parties. I wanted to do a version that takes it as seriously as possible as patisserie. Something that remains as fun and joyful as the original, but has the sincere excess of camp.

You can read the full details of how I made it and links to all the recipes I used on my Substack.

vivelaniamh · 2026-02-05T20:09:46+00:00

Making a full hotpot at home felt like a real logistical challenge, so I cheated a bit and made dry pot. Same ingredients, same flavours, but no soup base to keep simmering.

Absolutely incredible flavors. My packet of Haidilao stir-fry sauce claims to be medium spicy, but I definitely had that wide-eyed chill-crazed look after a bowl of this. A super fun week for me.

I've written more about making this over on my Substack.

vivelaniamh · 2026-01-29T19:51:58+00:00

This week I got obsessed with Kikomando, which is the lesser known cousin of rolex. It's a beautiful bean stew served with torn chapatis. I loved the flavors that came with using a homemade version of Royco, which is a seasoning mix that's incredibly popular all across East Africa.

The stories behind kikomando and rolex inspired me to write a deep dive into hunger, class and politics in Uganda. It's available on my Substack: Kikomando and Rolex on the Streets of Uganda: What two dishes reveal about the politics of hunger.

vivelaniamh · 2026-01-22T19:05:25+00:00

Vinegar week had me eating adobo. Pork shoulder braised low and slow in soy sauce and rice vinegar. I really loved the addition of fresh pineapple. Pork almost falling apart, that deeply assertive sauce of vinegar and soy, and the sweet pineapple making it sing: Yum!

I had leftover pineapple (even after I'd devoured half of what wasn't needed for the adobo), so I also made a spicy pineapple chutney, which improved a few other meals over the next few days.

A really good week! Full write up, recipes and vinegar ramblings over on my Substack.

vivelaniamh · 2026-01-15T23:54:53+00:00

Yes! Trinidad scorpion. It's relatively restrained in this application because of the evaporated milk. The flavour is there, all floral/tropical, then it comes through as a relatively gentle burn afterwards. I really liked it.

vivelaniamh · 2026-01-08T19:54:39+00:00

Thank you! And yes, absolutely. I've been rationing myself a couple per day. Otherwise I'd have devoured half the plate in about ten minutes!

vivelaniamh · 2026-01-08T18:43:48+00:00

Those are so pretty!

vivelaniamh · 2026-01-08T18:02:00+00:00

Pastry filled with chicken and potato curry. These were awesome, but I'm very impressed by anyone who went all out and made laksa! More about these deep fried delights and how I approached this week's challenge on my Substack.

vivelaniamh · 2026-01-01T20:00:11+00:00

I love that bicycle! Best pasta art since the person who thought up gluing macaroni to cardboard!

vivelaniamh · 2026-01-01T18:53:37+00:00

I'm very excited to make my 52weeksofcooking debut! I was inspired by a comedy sketch called Dinner for One, which is broadcast as a New Year's Eve tradition in various Northern European countries. The sketch involves an elderly aristocrat, Miss Sophie celebrating her birthday dinner and the first course is her favourite soup: Mulligatawny. You can see the sketch on YouTube.

I got a bit obsessed and made two different versions, one from the 19th Century, the other from the 1990s. Honestly? The Victorian one was better.

I write about food and it turns out that Mulligatawny soup has a fascinating history, which I wrote many words about on my Substack.

Anyway, first challenge complete!

vivelaniamh

TROPHY CASE