Traditional Trinidad and Tobago doubles: the fried bara breads with chickpea curry, tamarind chutney and pepper

Doubles were born in the 1930s in Princes Town, Trinidad, in the hands of Emamool Deen, a street vendor who served chickpea curry over an Indian fried bread and, at his customers' request, started using two breads. The name stuck, and the snack became the breakfast of the whole island, eaten standing at the stalls of Port of Spain and San Fernando with the sauce running down your fingers.

It is the inheritance of the indentured workers who came from India in the 19th century, bringing curry, chickpeas and fried breads. The bara is a wheat dough with yeast, turmeric and cumin, rolled thin and fried in seconds until it puffs and turns soft. The channa is chickpeas cooked with curry, toasted cumin and garlic, in a thin sauce. On top go sweet-and-sour tamarind chutney, cucumber grated with lime, culantro (chadon beni) and scotch bonnet pepper sauce, in the dose the customer asks for: slight, medium or plenty.

It is vegan, makes a lot and every part is simple. The bara is the one that takes a little practice: soft dough, oiled hands and very hot oil. After the first batch, it becomes routine.

Recipe card

• Origin: Trinidad and Tobago
• Category: Street food, breakfast or snack
• Difficulty: Medium
• Prep time: 40 minutes (plus 1 hour of rising)
• Cooking time: 40 minutes
• Serves: 12 doubles (24 baras), 6 servings

Ingredients — bara

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• Oil for greasing and frying

Ingredients — channa and toppings

• 2 cans chickpeas (800 g), drained, or 2 cups dried chickpeas, cooked
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons curry powder (preferably Caribbean)
• 1 teaspoon toasted ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon amchar masala or garam masala
• 1 1/2 cups water
• Salt to taste
• Tamarind chutney: 1/2 cup tamarind pulp, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 garlic clove, 1 pinch cumin, salt, cooked until thick
• 1 cucumber, grated, with the juice of 1/2 lime, salt and cilantro
• Scotch bonnet or habanero pepper sauce

Method

1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, turmeric and cumin. Add the warm water and stir into a soft, sticky dough. Cover and let rise for 1 hour, until doubled.
2. For the channa, heat the oil and sauté the onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, curry and cumin and fry for 1 minute with 2 tablespoons of water, until it forms a paste.
3. Add the chickpeas, water and salt and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, mashing some of the chickpeas, until the sauce thickens a little. Finish with the amchar masala.
4. Prepare the tamarind chutney and the grated cucumber and set aside.
5. Heat 3 fingers of oil in a deep skillet to 180 °C.
6. With well-oiled hands, take a ball of dough the size of a small lime and flatten it in your palm into a thin 10 cm disc.
7. Fry each bara for 20 to 30 seconds per side, until it puffs and browns lightly. Drain on paper towels and cover with a cloth to keep them soft.
8. Assemble: two baras overlapping, a ladle of channa in the middle, tamarind chutney, cucumber, cilantro and pepper to taste. Fold and eat with your hands.

Tips and variations

• Bara dough is soft on purpose: do not add flour, oil your hands.
• Bara fried too long hardens: seconds per side, just until it puffs.
• Chadon beni (culantro) is the Trinidadian herb; regular cilantro substitutes.
• Dried chickpeas cooked with a little turmeric make tastier channa than canned.
• Baras freeze well, separated by paper; reheat in a dry skillet.
• The channa can be made the day before and is better.
• More pepper (plenty) is the Trinidadian way; start with little and work up.

Doubles are Trinidad's breakfast in the palm of your hand: soft fried bread, chickpea curry, tamarind and pepper. Cheap, vegan and impossible to eat just one.