Sweet potato and coconut craze!

For some reason lots of random bits and bobs pointed towards the need to make a healthy gateau patate! Fresh coconut and sweet potatoes at home (yay finally managed to break a coconut!), ravioli on sale in most shops and basically just missing Mauritius and all it's yummy food!

Sweet potato and coconuts are actually really healthy foods, low GI along with healthy fats but with the addition of lots of sugar, white flour and deep frying makes these traditional cakes rather unhealthy! For those who aren't sure what these are, Here is what the original deep fried cakes look like.

 So here's my healthy take on this Mauritian street food :)

HEALTHY GATEAU PATATE

Makes about 7

• About 150 g mashed sweet potato
• About 35 g flour + more for rolling ( I used almond powder and rice flour to make these gluten free)
• Cinnamon
• 1/4 of a coconut- roughly grated
• 5 dates soaked in water

1. To make the filling, mix the grated coconut and crumble up the dates (squeeze excess water away) together until it is all well mixed.

2. For the pastry, mix the sweet potato mash, choice of flour and cinnamon together until well combine. It will still be quite sticky.

3. On a floured surface and with floured hands, make several small balls from the dough. Place a ball in your palm and flatten with the other hand, constantly turning around and adding a little flour to prevent from sticking.

4. Once you have a nice circle, add a tiny bit of the filling to the middle (not too much or it will crack!), fold the pastry over and press the edges with a fork to seal.

5. Once they are all ready, place on a non stick tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 15/20 mins until golden brown and crunchy!

Because I had so much sweet potato left, I then decided to make some sort of macaroon/ cookie.

SWEET POTATO & COCONUT MACAROON

• 180g sweet potato
• 1 egg
• 30 g coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp honey
• 30 g ground almonds
• 45 g oats
• 30 g whole wheat flour (or oat flour for gluten free)
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp baking soda
• Cinnamon
• 6 heaped tbsp desiccated coconut
• A couple of broken up walnuts (optional)
• Dark choc chips (optional)

1. Mix together the mash potato, egg, vanilla, honey and oil until really smooth.

2. Fold in the flours, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon until you obtain a dough.

3. Fold in the coconut and walnuts (if using). Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a non stick baking sheet and top with a few dark chocolate chips. 

4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

Hope you enjoy these recipes:) also just joined Instagram! I'm Mojojojo473 on there :)

Xx

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