Tag: Maltese food

Kwarezimal… again and perfect!

A few months ago I made Kwarezimal and posted the recipe. Kwarezimal are these Maltese vegan treats usually for easter that we had in Valetta last year when visiting. My first attempt at recreating these delicious sweets was tasty but I wasn’t quite happy. The recipe posted reflected the slight modifications needed to improve it but I haven’t tested it fully: a little overcooked and not enough moist from the honey. Also a slightly too strong taste of almond compared to what I wanted and the other ingredients. As these treats are rather rich and nourishing they are perfect in winter with a hot tea after working outside in the cold in the garden or after playing tennis, or both. So I decided to prepare them when the thermometer hit the 5degrees in the house in the morning. What best than working in the kitchen near the oven while the house warms up. I used the recipe posted earlier this year with a few modifications in the process, the shaping (made a smaller double bite size, faster cooking) and the topping: honey dip + hazelnut + pistachio. And made one slight change in the ingredients amount: double tap of cocoa powder. So here is the new recipe. To be honest it was perfectly delicious. Hard to stop eating them!!!

Kwarezimal (makes 18 double-bite size pieces)

  • 150g of almond powder (or hazelnut powder)
  • 100g of flour
  • 60g of brown sugar
  • 1tsp of orange blossom flower
  • 2tsp of cocoa powder
  • 1tsp of cinnamon
  • 1tsp of clove
  • 1/2tsp of cardamom
  • the zest of half an orange or any other citrus fruit (I used yuzu this time)
  • a bit of water

For the topping:

  • a small handful of pistachios
  • a small handful of hazelnuts
  • 3tbp of fragrant honey

Pre-heat the oven to 180 while mixing all the ingredients (but those for the topping) together. Add a bit of water and knead until you obtain a dense but not sticky dough.

Roll the dough to a 5-7mm thick and cut the double-bite size with a shape or with a knife. Other option is to take small balls and shape them the way you want. A flat surface is better for the topping. Set on cooking paper in the oven for 15minutes.

In the meantime, crush the pistachios and hazelnuts of the topping, and set in the plate. In another plate a bit deep, put the honey. As soon as the Kwarezimal are baked and out of the oven, flip a few of them in the plate with the honey, and leave for a couple of minutes. Then dip the sticky side in the pistachio-hazelnut mix and flip on a dish or back on the cooking paper, repeat with the others and let cool down before enjoying!!

Pastizzi tal pizzeli

It is really interesting how much Maltese food has left a strong impression on me. I’ve already shared some of my favorite recipes from Malta, but one is still missing: that of pastizzi tal pizzeli, one of the three types of pastizzi, that with spicy peas. Why did it take me so long? Because I was waiting for the season of green peas to make them with fresh green peas. And now the season has come and I have gotten plenty of green peas so I tried making pastizzi. But for the genuine recipe you’ll have to wait longer, my attempt, though delicious, is a disgrace to the true Maltese pastizzi such that in the picture below.

If you look on the internet you’ll find several different recipes for pastizzi, one of the main difference is those that use spilt peas, and those that use green peas, but they all have in common that they are prepared with puff pastry and the inly spice they use is curry, hence they are often called curried peas pastries, but in my memory the taste was more complex than that, or the Maltese curry is different than that we have here… hum… anyway, the challenge was to start with the puff pastry, not something I am confortable making (I need a serious training for that!), in particular when I remembered how thin and delicious it was in Malta, almost like filo (something I should also try to make!), so I decided to go with a rough puff to save some time, and spare me the disappointment of a poorly done puff pastry. As for the filling, I used half of a new onion, two handfuls of green peas, curry, a bit of clove (after all this is the Maltese spice by excellence), salt and pepper. I boiled the peas, I chopped the onion thinly and cook it in a pan with olive oil at low heat until just golden and soft. In a mortar I puréed the peas, add the spices and the onion. Stir well. Then roll and cut the dough in 8 squares of 12cm and filled them. I used an egg batter and baked at 200deg until golden. Well that was it. It was tasty, delicious but it was not a pastizzi!!!

I’ll try again! 😉

Kwarezimal, my way

When we decided to go to Malta last winter I didn’t know what to expect… the history of the island is so much different than this of the neighbouring places such as Sicily and Greece… I imagined that the landscapes and the culture would overwhelm me with beauty and mystery but I didn’t expect that the Maltese food would have such a strong impact on me and on my cooking. More than the food, in general, it’s been breads, pastries and sweets that completely bewitched me. The mix of spices: clove and cinnamon more than any, the citrus fruits, the almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts, the dates, figs and honey… well I am still under the charm and cloves have made their way back to my pantry. When we were in Valetta our friends had in mind to test many of the pastizzi, so we stopped at several places to taste some and ended up rather full, but the kids didn’t seem that full, or the adults eat all the pastizzi and left nothing to them… ??? and so when after hours of walking up and down the city we stopped at caffe Cordina, they ordered some sweets. A. ordered Kwarezimal. At first, I wasn’t much interested in them but after a pause, my appetite was back and when she offered me to try I couldn’t resist. The small pastries attracted me, with the crushed nuts topping and the promise of a taste of honey. And yes, as soon as I had a piece in my mouth, there was something else on my to-do list of things to bake when back home. The one thing special at caffe Cordina is that their Kwarezimal is made from hazelnut powder and all the recipes I found afterwards were made with almond powder. The good point for me, it’s that it is a lot easier to find almond powder than hazelnut powder in Tokyo, the bad point is that the Kwarezimal I made didn’t match my experience at caffe Cordina, but it’s a good reason to try again with hazelnut powder, would I find some!

None the less the almond base treat was truly delicious. I used a combination of recipes I found on the internet to make my Kwarezimal and I was very happy with the results. Having eaten Kwarezimal only once in my life I cannot claim that they were true to the Maltese taste, but at least taste-wise and texture-wise it was delicious. So let me share my recipe here because not only it is delicious but it is super simple to make and vegan: no butter, no egg and no yeast or baking powder… I think it could easily become an energy bar for active days!

Kwarezimal (makes 8 pieces)

– 150g of almond powder (or hazelnut powder)

– 100g of flour

– 60g of brown sugar

– 1tsp of orange blossom flower

– 1tsp of cocoa powder

– 1tsp of cinnamon

– 1tsp of clove

– 1/2tsp of cardamom

– the zest of half an orange or any other citrus fruit

For the topping:

– a handful of crushed pistachio

– some zest of citrus fruit

– 3tsp of honey

Pre-heat the oven to 180 while mixing all the ingredients (but those for the topping) together. Add a bit of water if needed until you obtain a very dense and not too sticky dough. Cut in 8 and make oblong shapes slightly flatten on top (easier for the topping!). Set on cooking paper in the oven for 20minutes. As soon as out of the oven, spread the honey on top of each Kwarezimal, sprinkle the crushed nuts and zest. Let cool down before enjoying (it’s hard to wait, it smells so good!!!!!).

Qagħaq tal-Ħmira

I love breads of all kinds and I’m always happy to try local breads when traveling. In Malta I didn’t expect I would fell so much in love with one of their bread: Qagħaq tal-Ħmira, sesame, anis, spices rings. We had one the very first morning when we were at the Birkirkara market, and after that I wanted to have some always, but there not that easy to find actually. Pastizzi were good but these little Qagħaq tal-Ħmira were just perfect. It has a perfect balance between sweetness and not, between richness and not, between spiciness and not. The balance of clove, anis seeds, citrus zest and sesame is perfect and that was the most difficult to recreate actually. But after 3 attempts I think I’ve nailed it and can share my recipe now. We love them so much and just to be sure I tested a fourth time, they were perfect, so there will many many more times!!!

Qagħaq tal-Ħmira

– 200g of flour

– 25g of butter

– 25g of sugar

– 3g of dry yeast

– a pinch of salt

– 1 cup more or less of tepid milk

– 1/2 tsp of clove powder

– 1 tsp of anis seeds

– 2 tsp of citrus zest (official recipe says lemon and orange, I used what I had: yuzu, natsumikan…)

– sesame seeds for the toping

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, butter, add the milk slightly warmed little by little while kneading. Stop adding milk and kneading when the dough is smooth. Add the clove powder, the anis seeds, the zest of citrus. Knead just to mix well. Leave for an hour or two in a warm places. When the dough has grow a bit and is warm and fluffy, cut in 4 pieces. Make a ball of each piece and shape like a bagel: squeeze the center of the ball with your thumb and make a hole, roll around your fingers to make the hole bigger about 4-5cm wide. Roll the top in sesame. Leave to prove for 1 to 2hours.

Bake at 180deg for 15 to 20min depending on your oven. Must be slightly golden but still soft.

Enjoy warm or cold, with jam, butter, cheese… or nothing…

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