Okay, if you’ve never tried doubles before you’re gonna love this recipe regardless. It does take time to make but worth all sweat, I promise.
Doubles are actually a kind of street food from Trinidad (can I get a woot-woot) and are extremely addictive.
Not to mention, they taste great and are super cheap to make. I don’t think I paid more than 10 bucks to make this version but that’s because I already stock a lot of the spices. If you don’t have any of the spices, I definitely recommend the Lala’s brand for the curry.
I’ll also add that learning how to make doubles is a life-skill everyone should have.
After being shut down from Uber Eats one night from having a serious craving and really, just taking too long to place my order (and also during a lockdown), I had to make sure this never happened again. Not trying to sound dramatic or anything, but having a certain craving for something and not being able to satisfy it is honestly worse than heartbreak. I learned to never let anything stand between me and my food ever again.
Anyways, you can make these lunch, brunch, a side…it’s pretty versatile.
Also, also, also, this tastes even better with achar, which is a mix of pickled fruits and vegetables with oils and spices…kind of like condiment. You can get this at any West Indian store in your area or the international sections/isles at the grocery store.
Okay, let’s do this…
Doubles
Equipment
- Cutting board/flat surface
- Rolling Pin
- Deep pan for frying
Ingredients
For Doubles
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 white onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp curry powder
- 1/4 tsp geera
- 1/4 tsp masala powder
- 2 cans chickpeas (540 mL each)
- tamarind paste
- 2 cups cabbage, chopped
- 1 cup carrots, shredded
- 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper, diced
- 3/4 cup mango, chopped
- Himalayan salt
- black pepper
For Bara
- 2 cups flour
- Himalayan salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Instructions
For Doubles
- Chop onion and garlic and place in a food processor with 1/4 cup water. Process until contents are completely blended.
- Add extra virgin olive oil to a deep pan on medium heat and add contents from food processor in step one.
- Add one cup of water and stir.
- Add curry powder, geera and masala and stir.
- Add chickpeas with one cup water and continue to stir.
- Pinch a generous piece of tamarind paste and add to your doubles mix. Stir well to make sure the tamarind is cooked well into the contents – you don't want to see the tamarind.
- Add cabbage, another cup of water and stir.
- Add carrots and continue to stir.
- Add mango as the final ingredient and stir carefully not to mush the texture of the mango.
- Add scotch bonnet and stir well.
- Add salt and pepper to increase the flavour if needed.
For Bara
- Add all contents to a mixing bowl and sift until even.
- Gradually add 1 cup of lukewarm water and knead until the dough is no longer sticky.
- Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Take mixing bowl out the fridge and divide the dough into 16 balls.
- Add a small amount of oil to a flat surface (like a plastic cutting board) and roll each piece until flat. Add a few pinches of flour to avoid the dough from sticking to the flat surface.
- In a deep pan, add enough oil for deep frying over medium-high heat.
- Wait for the oil to get hot and place 1-2 doubles in the pan.
- As the doubles start to rise, drain the oil on the side of the pan and flip took the other side.
- Remove from pan and place on a plate with a paper towel to absorb the extra oil. Repeat the previous two steps until the doubles have been cooked.
- Once cooled, add double mix and there you have it! Best enjoyed with some hot pepper and achar.