Doubles (food) facts for kids
Doubles
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| Place of origin | Trinidad and Tobago |
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| Region or state | Caribbean, United States, Canada, United Kingdom |
| Created by | Emamool Deen |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Curry chickpea and bara |
| Other information | Served with: various chutneys, kuchela, and pepper sauce |
Doubles is a common street food originating in Trinidad and Tobago of Indian origin. It is normally eaten during breakfast, but is also eaten occasionally during lunch or as a late night snack. Doubles is made with two baras (flat fried dough) and filled with curry channa (curried chickpeas) and various chutneys.
Origins
Doubles as a dish was created in Fairfield, Princes Town, by Emamool Deen (a.k.a. Mamudeen) and his wife Raheman Rasulan Deen in 1936.
It has been speculated that it was inspired by a northern Indian dish called chole bhature (or sometimes channa bhatura). Chole bhature is made by combining channa masala with spicy chickpeas and bhature (poori), which is a fried bread made with maida flour, a common flour in Indian baking.
Mamudeen used to sell the bara (flat fried dough) and channa (chickpeas) separately. When people buying these two items began requesting to double the bara in their orders the name “doubles” was coined.
Preparation
Doubles can be served spicy, sweet, or savory. Condiments include spicy pepper sauce, kuchela, or green mango, bandhaniya (also known as chadon beni or culantro), cucumber, coconut, and tamarind chutneys.
Cultural significance
Given the diversity of Trinidad, doubles is credited with its ability to "define and maintain symbolic boundaries of identification", and is considered an authentic standard of Trinidadian cuisine. Doubles is a comfort food for displaced Trinidadians in major cities across the globe. Its consumption has been credited with developing a "deep psychological imprinting" among them, and as such is considered culturally significant for how it encapsulated Trinidadian identity into such a simple and unique snack.
