First, you will make the dough and then you will make the chickpea / channa mix. You need to make the dough to leave it to rise for some time.

Step One: Trinidad Doubles – the Bara Dough

Combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, turmeric and yeast in your bowl. You should then add warm water little at a time with one hand then use your fingers to bring the flour and water together. The flour should then absorb the liquid. Just remember you can add but you cannot take away. Best to wait, mix and bit more then add more water.

You want to feel the dough come together so it is still sticky and elastic. This is important because you will spread and stretch the dough later with your hands. Make sure all the flour is incorporated in the dough so it should be smooth and not dusty or matte.



Leave the dough in the large bowl, drizzle a tablespoon of oil on top of the dough so the top of the dough is shiny. It stops the dough from drying out. Place your cloth kitchen towel over the top of the bowl and leave the dough to rise at least 20 minutes.

Step Two: Trinidad Doubles – Curried Chickpeas

Place your saucepan over high heat then combine the chickpeas, garlic, cumin powder, curry powder and water all together. Cover the saucepan and then allow the mixture to boil. Leave the chickpeas to boil for 10 minutes and then add your chopped coriander. Do not add salt yet as reducing the water will increase the saltiness.



Reduce the heat and allow the chickpeas to cook for another 5 – 10 minutes and the sauce will become thicker. You should season with salt and pepper to taste at this point.

You should remove the curried chickpeas from the heat and cover to allow the chickpeas to sit in the saucepan.

Step Three: Trinidad Doubles – Stretching and Frying the Bara Dough

Heat the remaining cooking oil in the frying pan. You can either leave this to heat and place fingernail-sized amounts of dough in the oil to watch it sizzle or use the thermometer to test the oil temperature until it reaches 230 Celsius.

Place your cooling rack over the baking sheet.

Cover the palm of your hands in cooking oil. Also, place a tablespoon of cooking oil on your preferred surface and spread the oil around to cover an area about one foot tall and wide. Grease your palms again then grab the bara dough slightly larger than a gold ball.

Take a golf ball-sized amount of bara dough and place on the greased countertop. You should stretch the dough from the middle and then the edges so the bara starts to become thin and almost see-through. You want to avoid holes in the dough but this happens. The greased hands and greased surface help stretch the bara dough.



Prepare half a dozen bara and then place them in the oil no more than two at a time. The bara will puff up and swell. Use the barbecue tongs to turn the bara after about 15 seconds.

Remove the bara from the oil and place the fried bara on your cooling rack.



Repeat the process until you run out of bara dough.

Step Four: Trinidad Doubles – Compiling the Doubles

You take one fried bara and a second fried bara on top but not completely overlapping. Place a tablespoon amount of curried chickpeas on the top fried bara. Fold the two bara in your hands and eat!

What About Them Toppings Tho?

Optional additional toppings include hot sauces of your choice, grated cucumber, tamarind sauce or a coriander-based salsa verde. For people living in Dubai, I regularly eat Haute Sauce Artisanal & Homemade Hot Sauce, especially the Habanero and Coriander blend.