What an interesting way to serve Navratri sundal!.. When traditional green moong sundal served in crunchy Sweet Potato Canapes, it’s certainly a star attraction in Navratri celebrations!.

About Canapes

Canapes are small bite-sized appetizer or a starter. It consists of a base(shell), a creamy filling and some interesting garnishing. Base or shell are usually made from a piece of cracker, bread or any vegetable slices. To have some variation, it can also be baked like a thin tart case and served with some interesting fillings.

In this recipe, I have used boiled and mashed sweet potato to make the tart cases or shells. It’s fun and super easy to prepare these canapes with minimal number of ingredients. They are baked with very little amount of butter and are feather-light in texture.

Both Sweet Potato Canapes and Green Moong Sundal are gluten-free, nutrient-rich and are nourishing when included in a fasting meal. For Vegan version, just substitute any plant-based fat in place of butter.

Here’s the recipe for Sweet Potato Green Moong Canapes..

Ingredients

For Canapes

• Sweet Potatoes – 250 g
• Singhara Flour – 2 tbsp
• Butter – 1 tsp
• Elaichi Powder – 1 tsp

For Green Moong Sundal

• Green Moong – ½ cup, soaked overnight
• Jaggery – ½ cup
• Elaichi Powder – ½ tsp
• Saunth Powder – ½ tsp
• Grated Coconut – 2 tbsp + for garnishing

Method

For Canape Shells

• Pressure cook the sweet potatoes. Peel and grate them finely.
• In a mixing bowl, add grated sweet potatoes, singhara flour, butter and elaichi powder. Combine to form a soft dough sans any lumps.
• To shape them into canapes, we need to use small cup-shaped moulds or muffin moulds. I have used a  muffin tray here.
• Invert the muffin tray, grease the entire area with melted butter or cooking oil.
• Take a lemon-sized dough and mould it over each pit on the inverted muffin tray(as shown in the video).
• Preheat the oven at 220 C and bake the canapes till they turn golden in colour.
• Gently unmould the canapes and let it cool.

For Green Moong Sundal

• Using a sprouts steamer, pressure cook the soaked green moong till they are soft but firm in shape (3 to 4 whistles).
• In a kadai, melt jaggery with very little amount of water. Strain and remove dirt if any.
• Boil the jaggery syrup for 2 or 3 mins. Add cooked green moong, elaichi powder and saunth powder. Mix well till jaggery syrup gets absorbed by green moong.
• Add grated coconut. Give a mix and remove from flame. Bring it to room temperature.

To assemble the canapes

• Place the canape shells on a serving tray. Fill them with 2 tbsp of prepared sundal filling.
• Garnish with grated coconut and serve.

Notes

The canape shells can be prepared well in advance and stored in an airtight container. Just before serving place them in a preheated oven for few seconds to retain its crunchiness. Fill them with sweet sundal and relish.

Happy Cooking!