Chef-tested recipe
Soft turmeric bara filled with curried channa and dressed with tamarind, cucumber, chadon beni, and pepper sauce
Doubles is Trinidad and Tobago street food built from two small fried bara breads and a spoonful of soft, saucy curried channa. Tamarind chutney, cucumber, chadon beni, and pepper sauce add sweet, sour, herbal, and hot notes according to the customer’s preference. The dish is traditionally plant-based, although packaged curry powders and condiments should still be checked. The key textures are a tender, flexible bara and chickpeas soft enough to crush with a spoon while remaining loose enough to soak into the bread.
Recipe at a glance
- Servings
- 8 doubles (4 main-dish servings)
- Prep Time
- 50 mins
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 20 mins
- Resting Time
- 12 hours
- Proofing Time
- 1 hour
- Total Time
- 15 hours 10 mins
- Cuisine
- Trinidadian
- Course
- Main dishes
- Cooking Method
- Overnight soaking, curry simmering, yeasted dough proofing, frying, and street-style assembly
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Best Served With
- Best served freshly assembled with tamarind chutney, cucumber chutney, chadon beni sauce, Scotch bonnet pepper sauce, mango kuchela, and a cold mauby or lime drink.
Before you begin
Ingredients & equipment
Gather what you need first, then cook through the method with confidence.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Ingredient and equipment links marked “paid link” may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Equipment
- Large heavy saucepanpaid link
- Deep frying potpaid link
- Kitchen thermometerpaid link
- Slotted spoonpaid link
- Wire cooling rackpaid link
- Large mixing bowlpaid link
- Fine-mesh strainerpaid link
- Wooden spoonpaid link
- Chef’s knifepaid link
- Cutting boardpaid link
- Digital kitchen scalepaid link
Ingredients
For the channa
- Dried chickpeaspaid link: 500 g
- Cold water for soaking: 1600 ml
- Fresh water for cooking: 1800 ml
- Baking sodapaid link: 5 g
- Vegetable oilpaid link: 40 ml
- Yellow onion, finely diced: 220 g
- Garlic, finely grated: 30 g
- Trinidad curry powderpaid link: 30 g
- Ground roasted cumin or geera: 8 g
- Ground turmeric: 3 g
- Scotch bonnet chilli, left whole or slit: 1 whole
- Chadon beni or culantro, finely chopped: 25 g
- Fine sea saltpaid link: 12 g
- Hot water as needed: 700 ml
For the bara
- Plain flourpaid link: 500 g
- Instant yeastpaid link: 7 g
- Baking powderpaid link: 5 g
- Ground turmeric: 3 g
- Ground roasted cumin: 4 g
- Caster sugarpaid link: 10 g
- Fine sea saltpaid link: 9 g
- Lukewarm water: 360 ml
- Vegetable oil for coating and fryingpaid link: 1200 ml
For the tamarind chutney
- Tamarind pulppaid link: 100 g
- Hot water: 250 ml
- Soft brown sugarpaid link: 90 g
- Ground roasted cumin: 4 g
- Garlic, finely grated: 8 g
- Fine sea saltpaid link: 3 g
For the cucumber chutney and assembly
- Cucumber, coarsely grated: 350 g
- Chadon beni or culantro, finely chopped: 20 g
- Fresh lime juice: 30 ml
- Scotch bonnet pepper saucepaid link: 80 ml
- Mango kuchela: 120 g
Preparation Overview
Soak chickpeas for 12 hours and prepare the channa before frying the bread. Mix tamarind pulp with hot water, strain out fibres, and reduce the chutney. Grate cucumber shortly before service. Keep a small bowl of oil beside the dough so portions can be shaped without adding extra flour.
Method
Soak and cook the chickpeas. Cover chickpeas with soaking water for 12 hours, drain, then boil in fresh water with baking soda for 45 to 60 minutes until very soft; reserve 700 ml liquid.
Start the channa. Heat oil and cook onion for 6 minutes. Add garlic, curry powder, geera, and turmeric with 100 ml chickpea liquid, frying until the paste is aromatic and the oil begins to show.
Simmer the filling. Add chickpeas, whole Scotch bonnet, salt, and 400 ml reserved liquid. Simmer for 20 minutes, crushing some chickpeas, then stir in chadon beni and adjust to a loose spoonable texture.
Mix the bara dough. Combine flour, yeast, baking powder, turmeric, cumin, sugar, and salt, then add lukewarm water and knead lightly into a very soft, tacky dough.
Proof the dough. Oil the surface, cover, and leave for 1 hour until visibly expanded and airy.
Make the chutneys. Simmer strained tamarind liquid with sugar, cumin, garlic, and salt for 10 minutes. Mix grated cucumber with chadon beni and lime just before serving.
Portion and shape. With oiled hands, divide dough into 16 small balls, rest for 10 minutes, then flatten each on an oiled surface into a thin round.
Fry the bara. Fry one or two at a time in 175°C oil for about 20 seconds per side, keeping them pale, soft, and flexible; drain briefly on a rack.
Assemble the doubles. Overlap two warm bara, spoon channa across the centre, and finish to taste with tamarind, cucumber chutney, pepper sauce, and mango kuchela.
Beginner Technique Notes
Channa for doubles is softer and saucier than a dry chickpea curry because the liquid must soak into the bara.
Fry curry powder with a little liquid until aromatic so it does not taste dusty or raw.
Bara dough should remain soft and tacky; adding excess flour makes the fried bread tough.
Use oiled hands and an oiled work surface instead of flour when shaping.
Bara should stay pale and flexible, so fry quickly and monitor the oil at about 175°C.
Tips and Variations
Chadon beni gives the most characteristic herbal aroma; fresh coriander is a workable substitute when unavailable.
Leave Scotch bonnet whole for fragrance with gentler heat, or slit it for a hotter channa.
Prepare channa and tamarind chutney one day ahead, then fry bara close to service.
Offer condiments separately for a doubles-bar setup where each diner chooses sweet, sour, and heat.
Do not overfill: two small bara and a modest spoon of channa should remain easy to fold and eat by hand.
Serving Ideas
- Stack warm bara in a cloth-lined basket, keep channa hot and loose, and arrange condiments in small bowls for immediate assembly. Provide napkins because properly sauced doubles are pleasantly messy.
Storage
Refrigerate channa and chutneys separately for up to 4 days. Reheat channa to at least 74°C with water as needed. Freeze cooked channa for 2 months. Bara is best fresh but can be refrigerated for 1 day and warmed covered; never store assembled doubles.
Nutritional Value
Allergen Notes
Contains wheat gluten. Curry powder, pepper sauce, and kuchela may contain mustard or cross-contact allergens. Fry in dedicated oil for guests with serious allergies and verify every prepared condiment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the dish called doubles?
A serving uses two pieces of bara together around the channa filling.
Should bara be crisp?
No. It should be soft, thin, and flexible enough to fold around the filling.
Can canned chickpeas be used?
Yes, but simmer them until very soft and use water to create the loose channa consistency.
What is chadon beni?
It is culantro, a strong aromatic herb widely used in Trinidadian cooking.
Can the components be made ahead?
Channa and chutneys can; fry the bara shortly before serving for the correct texture.
