On a trip to Mauritius you may think the only local pudding dish is flambeed bananas or pineapple with rum and ice cream. While a delicious dessert, it’s not the only Mauritian sweet treat that you should try on your trip. These sweet potato cakes are typical Mauritian street food and perfect for a tea-time snack. They’re also super easy to make at home and have those wonderful tropical island flavours of coconut and cardamom.

Gateau patat douce (sweet potato cakes)

• 1kg sweet potatoes, peeled
• 250 g cake flour
• 250 g grated coconut (desiccated if you don’t have fresh coconut to grate)
• 250 g white sugar
• 2 pods of cardamom
• Vegetable oil

Boil the potatoes until cooked but be careful not to boil them for too long – they should not become watery. Mash them and mix in the flour to form a dough (the dough must be fairly sticky – not dry). Roll out the dough fairly thinly and cut out circles (around 12 cm in diameter).

Mixed the grated coconut with sugar. Dehusk the cardamom pods, crush the seeds and add to the coconut/sugar mixture.

Put a tablespoon or so of the coconut/cardamom/sugar mixture into each dough circle and close it carefully, sealing all the sides. Be careful not to put too much filling in – it should not spill out the sides.

Deep fry each sweet potato cake until golden brown.

I learned to make this Mauritian recipe on a cooking lesson with the fantastic chefs at LUX Le Morne.  For more on LUX Le Morne, click here.