TORTA TAL QARA AHMAR – Nanna’s Maltese Pumpkin and Rice Pie

Being with my Maltese girl (now my wife) for over 10 years I have been exposed to quite a bit of Maltese Cuisine.

And although I tease my wife telling her that Maltese food is just a cheap imitation of Sicilian food, they do have their own unique dishes.

Torta Tal Qara Ahmar (silent Q) is my favourite.
My wife’s Nanna (pronounced Nah-Nah, it’s Maltese for Grandmother) cooks this pie mainly during lent or when uncle Joe decides to grow an abundance of pumpkin and off load it to his mum.

In a nutshell it is a pie with pumpkin, rice a little salted tuna to lift the flavours and other yummy stuff. I find it interesting that you don’t even need to cook the rice before you bake it  – but it does work and the rice ends up cooked wonderfully.

If you make the pie pastry from scratch it’s can be quite a bit of work, but well worth it – if you are time strapped Nanna recommends using store bought puff pastry.

Before you start you need to prepare one of the ingredients at least two weeks in advance. That is, you need to turn fresh tuna into Salted Tuna. It’s quite easy here is how it’s done.

Salted Tuna

You’ll need…

    Fresh tuna steak/fillet(s)
    Rock salt
    plastic or glass container (with a lid) – big enough to hold the tuna steak(s) with a cover

Here’s what you do…

    Place the salt and tuna in the container. Ensure there is a good thick layer (at least 1cm) of salt covering the tuna top, bottom and sides.
    Put a lid on the container place in fridge for at least 2 weeks before using. The longer the tuna is left in he salt the better!! This should keep for a few months.


You could use store bought anchovies instead (well that’s what Nanna tells me).

OK, now for the pie…
Torta Tal Qara Ahmar
(serves 4)
You’ll need…
Jap Pumpkin – 410g (0.9lb) (weight with skin on and seeds removed)
Brown Onions – 2 large
Stuffed Spanish Green Olives – 180g (drained weight) (the type get in jars in brine)
Tomatoes (seeds & all) – 4 medium to large
White Rice – 350g (1½ cups) – medium grain (arborio should work too)

Nanna uses good Australian Rice.

Sea Salt – ½ teaspoon
Olive Oil – 2 tablespoons
Butter or Olive Oil to grease baking dish
Nanna’s Homemade Maltese Pastry (recipe coming soon to stagFOOD.com) or Nanna’s says as an alternative you can use store bought frozen puff pastry (try to choose the type made with butter – it tastes better).
Salted Tuna (prepared as described above) – 40g
Nanna tells me that some maltese use anchovies instead of salted tuna. So if you like use 40g (drained weight) of jarred anchovies.
Large Bowl
Baking Dish (metal or earth ware – a non stick metal one works well) – about 23 x 30cm (9 x 12 inches)
Food Processor (or a Good Knife and cutting board)
Now you can get started…
Preheat oven to 250 degrees C (or 380 degrees F)
Peel pumpkin and discard skin and chop into big chunks
Blitz pumpkin to fine pieces in a food processor & place in a bowl
Peel and quarter onions.
Blitz onion to fine pieces using the food processor and add to pumpkin in mixing bowl.
Blitz olives in food processor to a fine dice and add to mixing bowl.

Quarter the tomatoes, blitz in the food processor & add to other ingredients in the mixing bowl.

Nanna showing you how it's done.

Alternately you can just use a knife and chop the pumkin, onion, olives and tomatoes to a fine dice.
Rinse salt off tuna, dice into small pieces, about 5mm (0.2inch) dice, as it is quite salty.
Rinse rice with running water until water runs clear.
Add the rice, tuna and sea salt to bowl with other ingredients and mix everything well.
Grease a baking dish with olive oil or butter (use a bit of kitchen paper or brush to help you here)
Roll out pastry on a bench with a little  flour so it’s quite thin (about 3 – 4mm) to cover the base of the baking dish. (off course no need to do any rolling if using bought pre-rolled pastry)
Cut pastry so it is roughly a size (or a little bigger) that will cover the base of the baking dish and the sides.
If using store bought puff pastry, you may need to use more than one sheet.
If using Nanna’s home made pastry ensure you shake off any excess flour that is on the pastry.

Carefully place the pastry into the baking dish and so the pastry covers the base and the sides of the dish. Using a knife (or scissors) cut off any excess pastry. If there are any holes in the pastry, patch it up using some excess pastry.
Nanna’s home made pastry can be quite elastic and it may not stretch out and stick to the pan like you want it to. Brushing some water on it will help it stick to the pan.

Strain the rice mixture of excess liquid – just tilt the bowl over a sink holding the mixture back with a large spoon. Don’t squeeze the mixture, you just want the excess liquid removed.
Spoon the rice mixture into the pastry laid out in the baking pan – spreading mixture evenly and filling to the top.

Drizzle olive oil all over the rice mixture – about 2 to 3 tablespoons
Roll out another piece of pastry and cut to a size a little larger than the size of the baking pan. Drape over the baking dish. Trim pie of excess pastry.
Crease edges of pie with a fork to seal the pie. A brush and some water can help seal the pie.
Prick the top of the pie all over with a fork to allow hot air to escape.
Bake pie in the oven until pastry is golden (approx 35 to 45 minutes).
Allow to cool a little and slice it up and serve.

Don’t forget to lick your plate.