Doubles
Updated March 26, 2024
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Prep Time
- 30 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2cups/256 grams all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- 1teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1teaspoon active dry yeast
- ½teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½teaspoon bhuna jeera (roasted ground cumin) or ground cumin
- ½teaspoon salt
- 1tablespoon plus 2 cups vegetable oil, plus more as needed
- 1cup dried chickpeas (soaked for 24 hours with ½ teaspoon baking soda), or 3 cups canned chickpeas (from two 13.5 oz cans)
- 2tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2scallions, greens and whites finely chopped
- 2large garlic cloves, minced
- 1tablespoon curry powder, preferably Madras
- 1teaspoon ground cumin
- 1teaspoon ground coriander
- 1teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon amchar masala or garam masala
- 3fresh thyme sprigs
- 1whole Scotch bonnet chile (optional)
- 2chadon beni (culantro) leaves, chopped, or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- Mint-Cilantro Chutney
- Tamarind Sauce
- Pepper sauce or hot sauce of choice
For the Bara
For the Channa
For Serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the bara: Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, yeast, turmeric, cumin and salt in a large bowl and mix with a fork until fully incorporated. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, then slowly pour in ¾ cup lukewarm water, mixing with a fork until the dough starts to get shaggy. Knead the dough with your hands just until it’s soft and pliable. (Dough will be a little sticky.) Let rest, uncovered for at least 30 minutes.
- Step 2
Prepare the channa: If using dried chickpeas, drain the soaked chickpeas, then transfer to a deep saucepan and cover with 6 cups water. Increase heat to medium-high and boil for 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours until chickpeas are tender and easily crushed between two fingers, skimming any foam off the surface of the water. (The cook time can vary quite a bit depending on the size and age of the chickpeas, so test them along the way.) Drain chickpeas, reserving 2 cups of the chickpea broth.
- Step 3
Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large, deep skillet over medium. Add onion and scallions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until just golden.
- Step 4
Stir in the garlic, then add the curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric and amchar masala and fry until fragrant. Add the thyme sprigs, Scotch bonnet and chadon beni, then pour in the cooked chickpeas and 1 cup reserved chickpea broth (if cooking with dried chickpeas) or water (if using canned chickpeas). Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes until flavors meld.
- Step 5
Discard the thyme sprigs and Scotch bonnet, then separate about ¼ of the chickpeas and purée them until smooth, returning to the skillet to thicken the sauce. If you want brothier channa, add more chickpea broth or water. Season to taste with salt. Cover and set aside while you prepare the bara.
- Step 6
With oiled fingers, divide the dough into 12 equal balls and transfer to a lightly oiled working surface. Form each ball between two hands, then set it on your work surface and press it out with your fingers, gently spreading from the middle to the edges, as if smoothing a sheet, until it forms a superthin, 5-inch round. (Holes are OK.)
- Step 7
Line a large baking sheet with paper towels, then heat 2 cups of vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium to high heat until it reaches 375 degrees. Working with one round of dough at a time, gently place the uncooked bara on the surface of the oil. It’ll puff up and rise to the surface. Flip after a few seconds, when the bara starts to turn golden in spots, then fry for a few seconds more, until golden and starting to show some stiffness when lifted out of the oil. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet.
- Step 8
To serve, overlap two bara on a plate and top with a generous spoonful of channa. Drizzle with an array of sauces of your choice: mint-cilantro chutney, tamarind sauce and pepper or hot sauce. Serve fresh and piping hot.
Private Notes
Comments
If you're never had doubles on the roadside after carnival in Trinidad you may not understand why getting the bread just right makes a HUGE difference. Folks who are new to this food may want to try it authentically to understand the cuisine before westernizing the recipe. I'm super excited to try this at home and shoutout to the Times for including a hard to get but beloved West Indian recipe in their collection that pays homage to the makers.
It's so easy to make roasted cumin, and the flavor really really is different! Madhur Jaffrey's way is to put 4 to 5 tablespoons of whole cumin seeds into a small, heavy frying pan and place the pan over medium flame. No fat is necessary. Stir the seeds constantly and keep roasting them until they turn a few shades darker. She says cast-iron is better, but I have done it in a regular skillet. Grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
Our food is best when you keep it original, adaptations are a no-no.
Our family was craving doubles when I came across this recipe and we were not disappointed. The bara were so delicious and easy to make, and the chana was so good the next day that we fought over it. I couldn’t find tamarind sauce anywhere so my local Indian restaurant gave me some in little take-out cups. These reminded me of the taxi driver who kindly stopped at a Trini place in Queens on the way to JFK. Seldom have I eaten so well.
I made a GF version with Schar bread flour and it came out so, so good - the flatbreads looked as if they were going to be dry, but they were light and moist and opened almost like a pita. Worth keeping the recipe just for that (the chickpeas were great too!).
My daughter and I had fun making this delicious dish, along with the mint cilantro chutney. Not having a scotch bonnet, we used a large, whole jalapeño. It didn’t add much heat but the end result was still delicious. The mint cilantro chutney was made without jalapeño seeds. It had no heat. When seasoning to taste we added the seed core from 1.5 of the jalapeños to attain some spiciness but not an overwhelming amount. Perhaps the beautifully fresh jalapeños were mild. I’ll add more next time!