Doubles

I would like to dedicate this post to all the poor foreign types trying to cope with the British summer. This is Mr ‘Splorer’s third British summer. And he is, bless him, still struggling. He still goes out without a jacket if the sun is shining, in the naïve assumption that sun = warmth. He still doesn’t remember that the very instant the sun goes down, all warmth disappears. And he’s still trying to find some order in the chaos. After a couple of weeks in which a cold few days were invariably followed by a warm few days, he decided that that was a pattern. This helped him to greet the next patch of cold with equanimity, but I did feel that it would be unfair not to prepare him for the fundamental truth of the British summer: ANY weather could arrive at ANY time. That’s one theory about why we’re so into talking about it, apparently. And it is also why the moment the sun starts shining, it’s practically one’s national duty to dash outside, scooping up potato salads, quiches and sausages as one goes. 

This is a recipe for the days in a British summer when the sun is not shining. For the rainy Saturdays when you squelch home from your Zumba* class muttering to yourself about inconvenient puddles and how it’s always raining at the weekend. It’s comforting but also tropical. In fact, you could eat it and imagine you're sheltering from the afternoon shower on a Caribbean island. Just don’t look out of the window.

Doubles are apparently a Trinidadian street food and the recipe is courtesy of the wonderful Maddhur Jaffrey and her fantastic World Vegetarian book (also famous in this household for her Korean pancakes recipe). They are really simple – chickpeas cooked with tinned tomatoes and some spices wrapped in fried flatbread and served with some splodges of mango chutney and spicey sauce. Maddhur gives a recipe for the flatbreads but I cheat and use bhatura, a Punjabi fried flatbread bought from my local ethnic food emporium.

It's one of those recipes that is so much more than the sum of its parts and has become a firm favourite in this household. It definitely cheers up Mr 'Splorer! And it's really quick and can be mostly cobbled together from basic larder ingredients: onion, garlic, tinned chickpeas, tinned tomatoes and spices. Just pick up your bread and you're away. Oh, and don't forget your condiments.

Doubles 

(adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian)

Serves 2

1 tin of chickpeas

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 hot chilli, chopped finely

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the onion. Cook and stir for about five minutes before adding the garlic. Cook for another 30 seconds or so, then add the spices, followed by the chilli, tomatoes and then the chickpeas. Add about half a pint of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the liquid has mostly disappeared.

Serve with four warm bhaturas, mango chutney and hot sauce. Madhur says that the way they are served in Trinidad is with the filling sandwiched between two breads (is that perhaps where the name comes from?). However, I found that pretty much impossible to eat without getting it absolutely everywhere. After a few experiments, I recommend rolling it up and then wrapping in silver foil, like a burrito. Still not elegant, but it does reduce the chances of getting mango chutney down your front.

* Slightly cult-like but also excellent dance based fitness thing.