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Imqaret

Name: Imqaret
Total time: 60 min
Yield: Serves 12
Cuisine: Malta
Ingredients: 250g All-purpose flour; 50g Butter; 1 tbsp Sugar; 100ml Water; 200g (pitted) Dates; 1/2 (zest and juice) Orange; 1/2 tsp Anise seed; 2 Clove; To taste Oil for frying

Dessert

⏱ 60 min

👥 Serves 12

Difficulty ⭐⭐

Date paste wrapped in dough, cut into diamonds, and fried — a Maltese festival sweet.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Imqaret are a traditional Maltese sweet of Arab influence: date paste scented with anise and orange is wrapped in dough, cut into diamonds, and fried. They're sold fresh at stalls during village festas, filling the streets with a sweet aroma. They're sometimes served with vanilla ice cream.

🌆 Where it's eaten: On a summer festa night in a Maltese village, diamond-shaped pastries are fried one after another at a stall on a street lit by fireworks and packed into paper bags.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 12)

All-purpose flour 250g
Butter 50g
Sugar 1 tbsp
Water 100ml
Dates 200g (pitted)
Orange 1/2 (zest and juice)
Anise seed 1/2 tsp
Clove 2
Oil for frying To taste

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Rub the flour, sugar, and butter into crumbs, add water to bring together, and rest 30 minutes.
Chop the dates and work into a paste in a pan with orange juice and zest, anise, and crushed cloves.
Roll the dough into thin, long strips, lay a log of paste down the center, and wrap.
Cut diagonally into diamonds.
Fry in 170°C oil until golden.

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