Trinidad Doubles

Ingredients

• 400g plain flour
• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 280ml warm water, plus a little extra
• 1 litre neutral oil, for deep frying
• 400g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3 tbsp neutral oil, for the channa
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp Trinidadian curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin, for the channa
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric, for the channa
• 6 leaves chadon beni (culantro), finely chopped, or a small handful of coriander
• 1 Scotch bonnet pepper, left whole
• 1.5 tsp salt, for the channa
• 60g seedless tamarind pulp
• 180ml hot water, for the tamarind
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp roasted ground cumin, for the tamarind
• To serve: mango chutney, kuchela and hot pepper sauce

Before you cook

• Soak the dried chickpeas in plenty of cold water overnight.
• Finely chop the chadon beni and mince the garlic.
• Break the tamarind pulp into pieces and cover with 180ml hot water to soften.
• Cut twelve squares of baking paper for resting the shaped bara.

Steps

1. Whisk the flour, yeast, sugar, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of turmeric and half a teaspoon of cumin together in a large bowl.
2. Pour in the warm water and mix to a shaggy dough.
3. Knead the dough in the bowl for six minutes, until it is soft, smooth and slightly tacky but not sticky.
4. Cover the bowl and leave the dough somewhere warm for ninety minutes, until doubled.
5. Drain the soaked chickpeas and put them in a large saucepan with the bicarbonate of soda.
6. Cover with water by five centimetres and boil hard for forty-five minutes, until the chickpeas crush easily between two fingers.
7. Drain the chickpeas over a jug and keep 500ml of the cooking water.
8. Set a heavy pot over medium heat with three tablespoons of oil, add the diced onion, and cook for five minutes until soft.
9. Add the minced garlic and cook for one minute.
10. Stir in the curry powder, cumin and turmeric with two tablespoons of water to make a thick paste.
11. Fry the paste for two minutes, stirring constantly, until it darkens and smells toasted rather than raw.
12. Tip in the drained chickpeas and turn them until every one is coated in the curry paste.
13. Pour in the reserved cooking water, add the chadon beni, the whole Scotch bonnet and one and a half teaspoons of salt.
14. Simmer uncovered for thirty minutes, crushing about a quarter of the chickpeas against the side of the pot with a spoon as it cooks.
15. Check the consistency: the channa should be thick and stew-like, loose enough to spoon but not soupy.
16. Lift out the Scotch bonnet, taste for salt, and keep the channa warm.
17. Squeeze the softened tamarind through a sieve into a small bowl, pressing hard to extract the pulp.
18. Stir the brown sugar and roasted cumin into the tamarind and set the sauce aside.
19. Knock the risen dough back and divide it into twelve pieces.
20. Roll each piece into a ball, place them on the paper squares, cover, and rest for fifteen minutes.
21. Pour the frying oil into a deep pan to a depth of four centimetres and heat it to 180C.
22. Oil your hands and flatten one dough ball into a thin round about twelve centimetres across, thinner in the middle than at the edge.
23. Slide the round into the hot oil and it should puff within seconds.
24. Fry for twenty seconds, flip it, and fry for fifteen seconds more, keeping it pale gold rather than browned.
25. Lift the bara out onto kitchen paper and repeat with the rest, working quickly so they stay soft.
26. Lay one bara on a plate and spoon two heaped tablespoons of hot channa into the centre.
27. Drizzle over the tamarind sauce, add chutney, kuchela and as much pepper sauce as you can take.
28. Cover with a second bara and serve immediately, eaten with your hands.