Today I decided to try what seams to be a very typical Maltese dish: Kusksu with broad beans, gbejna and eggs. From what I heard, this is a Spring dish because that’s when broad beans are in season. But for me it’s more of a Winter dish, for those days spent on the sofa watching the cold wet weather outside.
kusksu with broad beans, gbejna and eggs
For those not familiar with some of the ingredients, this is what I know about it: kusksu is a form of small pasta beads. Despite the name is not the same as couscous, but it looks similar, just bigger; and Gbejna is a small round cheese traditional from Malta/Gozo made from sheep or goat milk.
I had never heard of this soup till my boyfriend’s mother mentioned it a few weeks ago. And I got immediately curious about it. After I was given a few details about it, I done my usual online research and found a lot of recipes for this soup. Like a lot of the Maltese traditional dishes, each family has their own way of cooking it. So I decided to take a bit of each recipe I found 🙂 Luckily, with all the frozen products on the market, I didn’t have to wait till Spring to cook it. And I found out that frozen broad beans are also very good. So let me show you my first trial at this Maltese classic.
Kusksu with broad beans, gbejna and eggs
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 l water
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 1 small zucchini, cubed
- 1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
- 1/2 chicken stock cube
- 1 cup peas
- 100 g frozen broad beans
- 1/2 cup kusksu
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- 2 fresh gbejna cheese
- 2 eggs
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Put the cubed potato and stock cube in a pot and pour over the cold water. Let it cook over low heat.
- In a pan, fry the onion in olive oil, add the sugar, salt, pepper, mixed spice, tomato paste, zucchini and stir well. Add 3-4 tbsp of water, stir again and pour the mixture in the pot with the potatoes.
- As soon as the mixture is boiling, crack the eggs in it, one by one, and remove as soon as they are poached.
- Add the cheese, leave it for 3-4 min and remove.
- When the potato is done, stir in the kusksu and peas. Leave it to cook for 3 min.
- At the end, add the broad beans and cook for another 3 min.
- Pour the soup into plates and add the reserved egg and cheese in each plate
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Amount Per Serving: Calories: 514Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 216mgSodium: 648mgCarbohydrates: 54gFiber: 11gSugar: 14gProtein: 26g
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Your kusksu looks delish! The consistency is perfect. I never heard anyone using mixed spice in this dish. Personally I would take it out and add some crushed garlic, sauteed with the onion. Well done ☺
Hi Marthese, thank you for your comment. It was my first time cooking this recipe and I had never even tasted the dish before. So I based it on a mixture of recipes I found online. I will definitely try it with garlic and no mixed spices next time. thank you for the tip 🙂
I live in Malta and never heard of Mixed spice being used . Garlic yes and peas as well. But I have heard that a lot have their own way of making it