IMBULJUTA
(Hot Chestnut ‘Soup’) by Anne & Helen Caruana Galizia

Serves 4 -- 5

This is a winter dish, traditional for early on Christmas morning, after midnight mass.

Ingredients
1 lb (400g -- 500g) dried chestnuts
1 heaped tbsp cocoa powder
6 oz (150g) caster sugar
A large piece of tangerine peel finely chopped

Method
Wash the chestnuts thoroughly. Place them in a large bowl and cover them with water. Leave to soak overnight.

Next day remove any loose pieces of skin. Preserve water for boiling the chestnuts. A pressure cooker will save much of the cooking time. Follow instructions given with pressure cooker. in any case allow to boil until tender.

Add the other ingredients and continue cooking for about half an hour. If the stew is still watery at this stage reduce it by further cooking. Finally taste for sweetness and add more cocoa, if necessary. Serve hot.

Watch this YouTube video prepared by students about this traditional Maltese sweet:


HONEY RING-CAKES
(in Maltese il-kaghak” or “il-qaghaq ta’ l-ghasel”) by Gorg-Mifsud-Chircop
Gian Frangisk Agius de Soldanis, Mikiel Anton Vassalli and Amy A. Bernardy have agreed as to the fact that the filling (“il-qastanija”) of the ring-cakes is made up of a cooked mixture of honey, semolina and some kind of liqueur. This is rolled lengthwise; after it is allowed to cool the mixture is used as filling for the Christmas ring-cakes. Bernardy also mentions the addition of aromatic substances.
To a great extent, nowadays, the filling mixture resembles the one just mentioned, as may be seen from the following recipe (in Maltese old measures) given to me by a lady from Hal Qormi. It is important to note how much women were schooled by experience as far as proportioned weights and measures are concerned, in order to obtain the right texture and the best taste in their ring-cakes.
Photo by Em. C. Spiteri
The following is the recipe for honey ring-cakes:
First prepare the filling. The following ingredients should be used: treacle – two rotolos (three and a half pounds); sugar -- half a rotolo (14 ounces); the rind of two oranges, two mandarin oranges and a sweet lemon (the rind should be cut into tiny pieces); orange blossom water (in Maltese “ilma zahar”) — half a Maltese pint (a liqueur glassful would suffice); aniseed -- one packet; cloves -- one packet; chocolate – one eight of a rotolo (three and a half ounces), water two rotolos (three and a half pounds): the same weight as that of the honey; semolina half a rotolo (14 ounces); some candid peel.
To make: allow the water to reach boiling point. Immerse the above-mentioned ingredients in it in the following order: honey, semolina, etc. After ten minutes when the lot has been well-cooked, allow the mixture to cool. Then use it on the next day.
For the pastry you need: flour -- three rotolos (five and one- fourth pounds); sugar – half a rotolo (14 ounces); butter – three-eights of a rotolo (ten and a half ounces); one lemon.
To make: mix the pastry. Ingredients as usual into dough. However, before you do so, squeeze the lemon pulp over the flour so that the dough contracts and the texture would consequently remain firm when the filling is used.
It is obvious that this recipe does not mention the method of the mixing. However, from what I have so far observed, I have concluded that the pastry is rolled and spread lengthwise and is later rounded into the form of a ring-cake, starting from the centre outwards. After it is allowed to set, it is reopened, cylindrically formed and cut into small pieces, each of which is one inch in both height and diameter. Each portion is flattened and spread thinly and filled with the qastanija; the sides of the pastry are joined together and the resulting roll is rounded. Before the ring-cakes are placed in the oven, their surface is sliced thrice in different places so that the filling is allowed space to escape through the pastry when expanding.

HONEY RING-CAKES

(in Maltese “il-Kagħak” or “Qagħaq tal-Għasel”) by Ġorġ Mifsud Chircop (1951-2007)

Gian Frangisk Agius de Soldanis, Mikiel Anton Vassalli and Amy A. Bernardy have agreed as to the fact that the filling (“il-qastanija”) of the ring-cakes is made up of a cooked mixture of honey, semolina and some kind of liqueur. This is rolled lengthwise; after it is allowed to cool the mixture is used as filling for the Christmas ring-cakes. Bernardy also mentions the addition of aromatic substances.

To a great extent, nowadays, the filling mixture resembles the one just mentioned, as may be seen from the following recipe (in Maltese old measures) given to me by a lady from Hal Qormi. It is important to note how much women were schooled by experience as far as proportioned weights and measures are concerned, in order to obtain the right texture and the best taste in their ring-cakes.

The following is the recipe for honey ring-cakes:

Filling

First prepare the filling. The following ingredients should be used: treacle – two rotolos (three and a half pounds); sugar -- half a rotolo (14 ounces); the rind of two oranges, two mandarin oranges and a sweet lemon (the rind should be cut into tiny pieces); orange blossom water (in Maltese “ilma zahar”) — half a Maltese pint (a liqueur glassful would suffice); aniseed -- one packet; cloves -- one packet; chocolate – one eight of a rotolo (three and a half ounces), water two rotolos (three and a half pounds): the same weight as that of the honey; semolina half a rotolo (14 ounces); some candid peel.

To make: allow the water to reach boiling point. Immerse the above-mentioned ingredients in it in the following order: honey, semolina, etc. After ten minutes when the lot has been well-cooked, allow the mixture to cool. Then use it on the next day.

Pastry

For the pastry you need: flour -- three rotolos (five and one- fourth pounds); sugar – half a rotolo (14 ounces); butter – three-eights of a rotolo (ten and a half ounces); one lemon.

To make: mix the pastry. Ingredients as usual into dough. However, before you do so, squeeze the lemon pulp over the flour so that the dough contracts and the texture would consequently remain firm when the filling is used.

It is obvious that this recipe does not mention the method of the mixing. However, from what I have so far observed, I have concluded that the pastry is rolled and spread lengthwise and is later rounded into the form of a ring-cake, starting from the centre outwards. After it is allowed to set, it is reopened, cylindrically formed and cut into small pieces, each of which is one inch in both height and diameter. Each portion is flattened and spread thinly and filled with the qastanija; the sides of the pastry are joined together and the resulting roll is rounded. Before the ring-cakes are placed in the oven, their surface is sliced thrice in different places so that the filling is allowed space to escape through the pastry when expanding.

QAGHAQ TAL-KAVELLETTI

(Pastry Sweets Covered with Honey) by Doreen Bartolo-Imbroll

Pastry

600g flour

200g sugar

1pkt margerine

4 tsp baking powder

the juice of two oranges

a few drops of anizette

some peels of tangerine

Mix the above ingredients together and let stand for 1 hour.

Roll out the dough very thinly and cut into small balls. Baking in moderate hot oven gas mark 6/400 F for 35-40 minutes.

Filling

3tbs sugar

454g treacle

200g almonds

200g nuts

a peel of tangerine

Put the black treacle with 3 tablespoons of sugar in a saucepan. Put it on low heat. Every now and then check for air bubbles. Cut the almonds, nuts and tangerine in small pieces and mix the nuts with the treacle when it is ready prepare the dough in the black treacle slowly.

Go to the main page of the MaltaMedia.com Special Traditional Maltese Christmas Feature.

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