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Doubles
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad's national breakfast and the undefeated champion of its street-corner food culture, born from the island's Indian indentured-labour heritage and perfected into something wholly Trinidadian. Two soft, turmeric-yellow flatbreads called bara (the 'double' of the name) cradle a scoop of curried channa, chickpeas stewed soft in cumin, garlic, and a warming masala, then dressed to order with a dizzying array of condiments: fiery scotch-bonnet pepper sauce, sweet-sour tamarind chutney, cooling cucumber, mango kuchela, and shado beni (culantro) chutney. The vendor's rapid-fire question, 'slight, medium, or plenty pepper?', is a rite of passage. Doubles are eaten standing up, the whole soft, saucy parcel folded into wax paper and devoured in a few messy bites before the bara dissolves. At well under a US dollar they're the great equalizer, eaten by bankers and laborers alike from dawn carts across Port of Spain, yet astonishingly rare outside Trinidad and its diaspora pockets.
Ingredients
- 300 gplain flour (for the bara)
- 1 tspground turmeric
- 1 tspground cumin (geera)
- 1 tspinstant yeast
- 1 tspsugar
- 250 gdried chickpeas (channa), soaked overnight
- 2 tbspcurry powder
- 4 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1 tspground cumin (for the channa)
- 1 wholescotch bonnet pepper
- 4 tbsptamarind chutney, to serve
- 500 mloil for frying
- 1.5 tspsalt
Directions
- 1
Make the bara dough: combine flour, turmeric, cumin, yeast, sugar, and salt, then add warm water to form a soft, sticky dough.
- 2
Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours until doubled.
- 3
Meanwhile, boil the soaked channa until very soft, then drain, reserving a little liquid.
- 4
Bloom the curry powder with garlic in hot oil, add the channa, cumin, salt, and a splash of water, and simmer until thick and some chickpeas break down.
- 5
Heat frying oil to 180C. Wet your hands, pull off small balls of dough, and flatten into thin discs.
- 6
Fry each bara for about 20-30 seconds per side until puffed and just cooked but still soft; drain.
- 7
For each serving, overlap two bara, spoon curried channa in the centre, and top with tamarind chutney and pepper sauce to taste.
- 8
Fold and eat immediately while soft.