[WATCH] Maltese kusksu

Watch Pippa Mattei make a traditional kusksu

Kusksu

Serves 6-8 persons

Ingredients

• 1kg fresh broad beans
• Half a tube or one small jar kunserva
• 2 onions, peeled and sliced
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 100 - 150g kusksu pasta (little beads) or Barilla ‘Tempesta’
• 100g fresh or frozen peas
• Salt and pepper
• 1 chicken or vegetable stock cube
• Parmesan cheese
• 6 fresh gbejniet
• 1½l water
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Prepare the beans by peeling twice. 
2. Toss the chopped onions and diced potatoes in butter and oil heated over medium heat. 
3. When vegetables are well coated, add the prepared beans and toss once or twice.  Then add the kunserva and stir well. 
4. Add water to cover, as well as the crumbled stock cube.
5. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook until the beans are soft (approx. 20 mins).
6. Add the pasta beads, stir well, and continue cooking, until these are transparent, (approx. 20 mins).
7. Finally add the peas and cook a few minutes longer until all the vegetables and the pasta beads are tender. 
8. Serve this soup with a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and one gbejna per person. 

Get more of Pippa Mattei’s recipes in her books Pippa’s Festa and 25 Years in a Maltese Kitchen.

This recipe first appeared on Gourmet Today TV, aired on TVM on 10 April, 2015.