Doubles

The SEasOning

This is the post I know a lot of people have been waiting for.

Doubles.

This is the food I won’t stop talking about. This is probably the best food to come out of Trinidad. The dish can and is eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time or while drinking. It’s a little sweet, as spicy as you want it, a little tangy, a little chewy and probably the best showcase of Indian cooking adapted for the Caribbean.

Among Trinidadian’s, doubles can be a contentious topic. Everyone has a favourite doubles vendor or a favourite recipe and will fiercely defend that. I’ve tried a handful of recipes on the internet and cookbooks trying to find a faithful recreation of the doubles I like. Most of them have come up short: the bara is always missing something flavour wise; the gravy is too thick/thin; the bara is hard or bland.

While I was working on my Favorite Chef run, I found a recipe from Cooking with Ria. She really knocked it out the park with this one. Her recipe is the closest I’ve ever come to making doubles like my favourite vendor.

What follows is my adaptation of her recipe.

The History and Elements

The history of Doubles date back to 1936. Emamool Deen (a.k.a. Mamudeen), and his wife, Raheman Rasulan Deen, would sell Chole Bhature (chole – spiced chickpeas with gravy; bhature – fried bread) to locals. They began asking for a second piece of bhature, and thus, doubles was born.

There are three elements to Doubles: The Chana; The Bara; The Chutney

The Chana

A lot of people think that the base for the chana flavouring is the normal curry powder you get off the shelf, but it isn’t. The preparation is a lot closer to what you’d see in “curry” dishes from India. There are a lot of individual spices that come together for this dish. That being said, you can use pre-made curry powder in a pinch: it’ll still be tasty, but doing this the “traditional” way is going to give you a lot more control of the final product.

The Bara

The bara is fried bread that’s served with the chana. The bara is a little sweet, a little salty, and has just a little chew to it. The key to this is steaming them after they’re fried. You can wrap the bara in a tea towel, or put them in a tortilla container, or my personal favourite is in a paper towel lined cooler. There is also timing issue with cooking bara: they are rolled out thin and fry VERY quickly, so you don’t want to overcook them. If they start to pick up colour you’ve probably overcooked them, and even if you steam them they’ll end up stiff.

The Chutney

Some people may argue that Doubles are really just a vehicle for getting sauce to your mouth. I can’t really argue with that take. There are all kinds of chutneys you can layer on your doubles. They range from sweet, to spicy, to sour. Good chutneys can really elevate your doubles. The most common ones are: pepper sauce, tamarind, shadow beni, cucumber, mango, coconut. Personally, I like my doubles with slight pepper, cucumber and tamarind chutney.

The Ingredients

Bara

• 2 cups AP Flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground tumeric
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 2 cups canola oil for frying

Chana

• 1/2 lbs dried chickpeas
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp + 1.5 tsp chopped shadow beni
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp ground tumeric
• 1/2 tsp amchar masala
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cucumber Chutney

• 1 english cucumber – grated
• 1 tsp garlic minced
• 1 hot pepper of choice de seeded and minced
• 1 tsp shadow beni
• salt and pepper to taste

The Method

The Bara – Serves 8

1. In a heat proof measuring cup stir together the yeast, water and sugar. Let the yeast bloom for 5 min
2. In a mixing bowl combine remaining dry ingredients and stir to combine. Knead till everything comes together and forms a sticky dough. Pour a table spoon of oil on top the dough and rub it around to coat the dough. Cover your bowl and let raise for ~6 hours and up to overnight
3. Once risen, divide the dough into 16 equal sized balls, cover them so they don’t go crusty and let them raise for another hour
4. While dough is raising, put your oil to heat over high heat in a dutch oven or wok. You want the oil to be 375-400 F.
5. Take a teaspoon of oil and grease the work surface you’re going use form forming the bara. Lightly grease your hands, take one of the dough balls and using your hands flatten the ball against your work surface and stretch it in to a 6″ diameter round. The dough is going to get stretched thin here, almost transparent. If the dough starts sticking to your work surface or hands it just means you need more oil.
6. Take your bara and GENTLY lower it into the hot oil. Fry for a few seconds on each side. The SECOND your bara starts to take on some colour pull it out of the oil. Immediately transfer to a paper towel lined cooler or bowl and cover with a lid. Repeat this with your remaining bara. You’re going to want to let the bara steam in this set up for a few min before serving. This step is critical, don’t skip it. This is what gives you the nice pliable texture.

The Chana

1. Add your chana to a bowl, cover with water and add a 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Let the soak over night
2. The next day, drain and rinse the chana multiple times
3. Add your chana to a big pot, add 6 cups of water, 1/2 tsp baking soda and being to a boil over medium heat. Boil for ~1 hour (or untill the chickpeas are tender) skimming off any scum that rises to the surface
4. Once tender add the shadow beni, garlic, and tumeric. Stir together and let cook for another 15-20 min. Use the back of your spoon to mash some of the chickpeas to thicken the sauce. You’re not looking for consistency of water, but you don’t want to turn this into curry hummus. Keep mashing till you’ve got the consistency you like.
5. Add the remaining shadow beni, amchar masala, and salt and pepper to taste. Give it one final stir. NOTE: this can be made the day before and just reheated before serving.

The Chutney

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. You can make this the day before and leave in the fridge till you’re ready.

To Serve

1. On a plate or square of wax paper overlap two bara like a Venn diagram.
2. Spoon on a heap of chana
3. Add as much pepper sauce as you’d like (none, slight, medium, plenty)
4. Add as much chutneys as you like
5. Enjoy!

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