Imqaret

Imqaret is a Maltese sweet made by wrapping a sweet date filling in wheat-flour dough and frying it in oil. It comes cut into diamonds or rectangles, and is enjoyed for the textures of the crisp outer pastry and the dense, sticky fruit inside. It is popular at village festivals and street stalls; besides being eaten warm as it is, it may also be served with ice cream.

Dates are the fruit of the date palm. The pitted flesh is simmered with water and aromatic ingredients until it becomes a thick paste. Cooling the filling before wrapping makes it easier to place in the center of the rolled-out pastry.

Homemade imqaret, with the date filling wrapped in pastry visible in cross-section. Photo: Simon Cutajar / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Original, unmodified.

Wrapping a long filling and cutting it on the diagonal

The basic shaping method is to place date filling on dough rolled out flat, fold the dough over to enclose it, and divide it into several small pieces. Cutting the long wrapped dough diagonally produces diamonds, while cutting it straight across produces nearly square shapes. This means the outline of each piece can be made without a special diamond-shaped mold.

The date filling is flavored with anise, citrus peel and the like. Products from the Maltese restaurant Diar il-Bniet combine dates with orange peel and use a pastry made from wheat flour, margarine and water.

Home recipes (the proportions of ingredients and the method of preparation) also use a variety of flavorings. In Anna and Jordan’s method, orange, lemon and mandarin peel, cloves and other ingredients are simmered with the dates, and brandy and orange blossom water are added. Once the filling has cooled, it is spread down the center of a wide strip of dough, and the dough on both sides is folded over to enclose it.

Cutting the wrapped strip diagonally produces many diamonds at once. In this method, the strip is cut into small pieces before frying, and the pieces are cooked until browned on both sides. Some formulas also use fat or eggs in the pastry, so the crunch of the fried exterior combines with the softness of the date filling.

Frying and oven-baking

The appeal of street-stall imqaret is its crisp, freshly fried pastry. On the other hand, there are also home methods that bake it in the oven. A recipe by Rosette Zahra of Malta combines a flour-and-butter dough with orange juice and water, and adds anise liqueur and cloves to the date filling. The pieces are cut into diamonds or squares and baked with the seam side down.

Among date sweets of the same kind, some have their surface browned in oil, while others are baked on a tray. The shaping method of wrapping the filling in a strip and cutting it into pieces is common to both.

The diamond shape and the name

The Maltese word Imqaret is a plural form; the singular is maqrut. The name is connected with Arabic and is explained in relation to the diamond shape. The outline created by cutting dough wrapped into a strip on the diagonal lives on in the name of the sweet.

Today’s products also include rectangles, and recipes for the baked version list both diamonds and squares. Although cutting and cooking methods vary, all of them are eaten as imqaret, a sweet that wraps dates.

Comparing it with makroud across the sea

In North Africa there are sweets called makroud or makrout, in which date filling is wrapped and cut into diamonds. They are known for pastry made with semolina and for being soaked in syrup after frying. The makroud of Algerian-born cook Farid Zadi wraps date filling in pastry made from semolina, wheat flour and butter; it is cut diagonally, fried and brushed with a honey and citrus syrup. In its name, its shape and its structure of wrapped dates, it is a sweet close to imqaret, on the other side of the Mediterranean.

In Malta, a method developed in which citrus and anise flavors are added to a pastry based mainly on wheat flour. While retaining connections with North Africa and the Middle East, imqaret has taken root at village festival stalls and in home kitchens. The exact period in which today’s imqaret emerged is not known.

From festival stalls to plates served with ice cream

An imqaret vendor at Birgu Fest, with sweets laid out beneath an illuminated sign. Photographed on October 14, 2023.

Photo: Rhododendrites / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Original. Reduced display image from the distributing source; no further modifications.

Imqaret is a street-stall sweet eaten by hand, and it is also associated with village festivals. At the same time, when served with ice cream, it becomes a plated dish that combines a warm fried sweet with a cold dairy dessert. Hands-on courses that convey cultural heritage through cooking also pair the making of imqaret with gelato. The combination adds differences in temperature and melting to the contrast between pastry and filling.

Glossary