Trinidadian · snack

Doubles

Doubles reads richness 4.6, heat 4.4 and salinity 3.6 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Trinidadian snack, about 2 hr 54 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 4.6 · Heat 4.4 · Salinity 3.6 · Earthy 3.3 · Sourness 3.1 · Funk & Ferment 3.1 · Warm Spice 2.9 · Umami 2.7 · Nutty 2.4 · Allium 1.9 · Fruity 1.6 · Bitterness 1.4 · Sweetness 1.3 · Floral 0.8 · Herbaceous 0.8

What's in it (16)

Time & effort: about 2 hr 54 min (1 hr 22 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 195.3 kcal, 6 g protein, 8.9 g fat, 23.6 g carbs

Dietary: Vegan — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

  1. Doubles is Trinidad's breakfast and its most important street food: two soft turmeric-yellow fried flatbreads called bara with curried chickpeas between them. It is a full dish and it belongs to Indo-Trinidadians, whose ancestors arrived as indentured labourers after 1845 — the Indian layer in Trinidadian food is not a modern fusion, it is a century and three quarters old.
  2. Whisk the flour, yeast, turmeric, ground cumin and 1 teaspoon of the salt together, then work in the warm water and knead 8 minutes to a soft, slightly sticky dough. It should feel wetter than bread dough.
  3. Oil the bowl lightly, cover, and prove 90 minutes until doubled.
  4. Meanwhile boil the drained soaked chickpeas in the 900 ml of water for about 50 minutes, until a pea crushes easily between your fingers. Keep the cooking liquid.
  5. In a separate pot, slake the curry powder and roasted geera with 3 tablespoons of water to a paste, then fry that paste in the 45 ml of oil over medium heat for about 2 minutes until it darkens and smells toasted rather than dusty. This step is the difference between a good channa and a raw-tasting one.
  6. Add the green seasoning and the whole scotch bonnet — whole and unbroken, so it perfumes without setting fire to it — then the chickpeas with enough of their liquid to come just level with them, and the remaining half teaspoon of salt. Stew 20 minutes.
  7. Crush about a third of the peas against the side of the pot with the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes, so the channa is loose and saucy rather than dry. Fish out the pepper.
  8. Divide the dough into 16 balls with oiled hands, flatten each to a 10 cm disc, and fry in oil at 175 C for about 45 seconds a side. They should puff and stay pale yellow and soft — bara is never crisp. Drain briefly.
  9. Assemble on a square of paper: one bara, a spoonful of channa, a second bara on top, then kuchela and pepper sauce. Eat immediately, standing up, over the paper.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Keep reading: what richness, heat, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

See how this dish fits your palate — take the short taste test →

Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.