I don't know how I've gone this long writing about Trinidadian food without telling you about doubles. They are by far the most popular comfort street food and are yet another example of how Indian cuisine has evolved into Trinidadian cuisine on this Caribbean island.
Doubles consist of two fried flat breads and filled with channa (chick peas) and other sauces, such as chutneys or pepper sauce. If you only want a little hot sauce, you ask for "slight pepa" = "a little pepper". People crave doubles in the morning, which is when you're more likely to see vendors on the streets.
The taste is not uncommonly delicious, and it is not the best food ever made. It does, however, taste like, well, like Trinidad. It offers a few bites of T&T pride. The vendor I bought my doubles from this morning proudly served me my food, asked me where I was from and if I had come for Carnival (which is next Monday and Tuesday). Speaking of Carnival, I can't believe I haven't told you more about it, and it's coming up so soon! This week, I promise to get you in a Carnivalesque mood and write to the rhythm of the soca beat.
Trinidadian street food is a mix of Indian, Creole, and other yummy culinary traditions. This Saturday, my husband and I had a craving for the ultimate Trinidadian comfort food - Corn Soup.
Corn Soup is sold in giant vats in makeshift tents by the side of the road, or, in this case, at the street food bazaar that magically appears Friday to Sunday evenings at the Queen's Park Savannah. Usually a massive, empty, grassy lot, this part of the Savannah transforms into a kind of tent city, where vendors park their mini vans, open the trunk, put up a tent, and set up shop to sell home made Trinidadian goodies.
We made our way straight to the corn soup lady before she ran out of the good stuff. Corn soup reminds me of Colombian ajiaco. Both of these soups are heart-warming, guaranteed-to-make-you-smile broths in which corn plays a vital role. Corn soup has a few more spices with a bit of a kick, however, and is served with pieces of corn-on-the-cob and what they call "dumplings", which are small balls made of dough. The soup is made of dahl (red lentils), pumpkin (like the one I told you about last time), corn, and hot pepper. Delish.
Also available at the Savannah street food tent city (I baptized it like this - I don't actually know what its called) were cow heel soup, chicken wings, bbq pork, pig tail, fresh fruit juice, and something called souse. It can be made with different proteins, but the base is usually the same - a kind of pickled cucumber sauce with spices and who knows what else. This vendor was offering chicken feet souse, and to be honest, I couldn't bring myself to taste it. I have tried souse made with a part of a pig I couldn't even identify, and to be honest, it was not my favorite thing in the world. Actually, it was downright nasty. It was like a pork intestine ceviche gone awry.
Having waved goodbye to the souse, and holding on to our beloved corn soup, we returned to our SUV, opened the trunk and joined the other street food tailgaters on that warm, Trinidadian Saturday afternoon. Children were running around and in the background you could hear the boom boom boom of the soca beat...Carnival time is here. Are you ready?
Doubles consist of two fried flat breads and filled with channa (chick peas) and other sauces, such as chutneys or pepper sauce. If you only want a little hot sauce, you ask for "slight pepa" = "a little pepper". People crave doubles in the morning, which is when you're more likely to see vendors on the streets.
The taste is not uncommonly delicious, and it is not the best food ever made. It does, however, taste like, well, like Trinidad. It offers a few bites of T&T pride. The vendor I bought my doubles from this morning proudly served me my food, asked me where I was from and if I had come for Carnival (which is next Monday and Tuesday). Speaking of Carnival, I can't believe I haven't told you more about it, and it's coming up so soon! This week, I promise to get you in a Carnivalesque mood and write to the rhythm of the soca beat.
