Recipe: Channa doubles

Riaz Phillips' recipe for Trinidadian doubles with curried chickpeas

Trinidad and Guyana (and Suriname to a lesser extent) share a great deal of street food commonalities, but one huge difference is doubles. Doubles, in name, are overwhelmingly a Trini thing. Even though in other Caribbean countries you may see "Bara and channa" for sale it comes with much less fanfare, less extravagance and is harder to find. I've seen doubles described as a "sandwich", but that word seems almost offensive when speaking of doubles. Two bara (fried dough balls) are lathered with curried chickpeas, then scattered with an array of toppings which can take the snack in any taste direction.

Doubles men (and women) line streets, corners, highways and hole-in-the-wall spots dishing out doubles with all your trimmings at a rapid pace, calculating the price, sorting change and having you on your way within a minute. I can't do justice to how amazing doubles are in words. The choices are laid out for you here, so adjust to your sweet or savoury preference, add as much spice as you can tolerate, and enjoy.

Makes 8

Ingredients

For the bara

• 300g plain flour
• ½-1tsp ground turmeric
• 1tsp sea salt
• ½tsp ground cumin
• 200ml warm water
• 1tsp light soft brown sugar
• 1tsp dried active yeast
• 5tbs cooking oil of choice
• 300ml cooking oil of choice, for frying

Method

Sift the flour, turmeric, salt and cumin into a bowl. In a separate cup or bowl, add the water, sugar and yeast and let it sit for five minutes. Then slowly add the yeast water into the flour mix and combine. Knead for five minutes while squeezing the dough and gently punching it in.

Form it into a flat round ball, coat with 1 tablespoon of oil and cover loosely with cling film. Leave to rest for at least one hour, or overnight if possible.

Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces and cover with a damp dish towel while you work. Add the remaining four tablespoons of oil to a separate bowl and set aside. In a frying pan or Dutch pot, heat the 300ml oil over a medium-high heat and line a bowl with kitchen paper. Now, dip the fingers of one hand into the bowl of oil and pick up a dough ball. Wipe the underside of the ball with oil and place it oil-side down on a flat surface.

Using your fingertips, flatten out the dough into a circle about 9cm-10cm in diameter. Don't worry if there's any holes from spreading it out too thin.

When the oil in the pan is hot, take the dough disc and place it in the oil. Let it sit for 3-5 seconds and you should see it puff immediately, flip it over with a pair of tongs and let it sit for 3-5 seconds. Turn again and sit for 3-5 seconds, then if you like you can flip once more for another three seconds until you achieve a golden, yellow colour, then place into the lined bowl and cover with a dish towel/lid to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining dough balls and serve with curry channa.

Curry channa

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 1tbs curry powder and 1tbs ground cumin (or 1½tbs madras curry powder)
• 1tbs garam masala
• 1tbs green seasoning
• ½-1 Scotch bonnet pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 6tbs cooking oil of choice
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped
• 500ml hot water
• 400g can chickpeas, drained

Method

In a small bowl, add the curry powder, cumin, garam masala and green seasoning. In a pestle and mortar, mash the Scotch bonnet pepper and garlic and add to the bowl. Add 60ml (four tablespoons) cold water and stir until the mixture resembles a paste.

In a Dutch pot or heavy-based saucepan, heat the oil over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion and spring onion and sauté for three minutes. Then add the spice paste and stir for five minutes. The paste may begin to stick to the base of your pan; if this happens, add one tablespoon of water and stir. Next, add the chickpeas and stir to combine for 3-5 minutes. If the paste begins to stick to the base of the pan, either add another tablespoon of water or reduce the heat a notch.

Add the hot water and stir. Place the lid on the pan and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring intermittently every seven minutes or so to ensure nothing is sticking to the pan. Reduce the heat to low, then remove the lid. The dish is now ready to serve, but you can leave it to simmer until the gravy is at your desired consistency.

East Winds by Riaz Phillips (DK, £25)