Trinidadian Doubles: The National Snack Born on a Bicycle

Doubles — two pieces of soft, turmeric-yellow fried flatbread (bara) sandwiching curried chickpeas (channa), dressed with tamarind sauce, coconut chutney, and pepper sauce — is Trinidad and Tobago's national street food. It was invented by Emamool Deen and his wife, who was an Indo-Trinidadian cook. She swapped the traditional mung bean flour bara for cheaper, more available wheat flour. Emamool then rode his bicycle to town to sell her creation out of paper cones. One couple, one recipe change, one bicycle — and Caribbean food was changed forever.

The bara is a soft, pillowy fried bread made from wheat flour, turmeric, cumin, baking powder, and sometimes split pea flour. The dough is yeasted, rested for an hour, then portions are flattened and deep-fried until puffed and golden. The channa (curried chickpeas) is cooked with curry powder, cumin (geera), fenugreek (methi), garlic, and hot pepper. Assembly: one bara on the bottom, a generous scoop of channa, tamarind sauce, cucumber or coconut chutney, pepper sauce, second bara on top. Eaten immediately, standing up, from the vendor's hand.

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