AUSTRALIA is full of people of many cultures.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll take a look at the food of some of these cultures and what we should be focusing on. All the good things that these cultures bring to Oz.

This week we take a look at the maltese cuisine.

Malta is a relatively small country but loaded with many people.

It is well known for its pastry of all kinds which is used to encase vegetables, cheese, fish, meat, rice and pasta, producing tasty and filling dishes.

These include delicate combinations of young cauliflower florets, sheep or goat cheeses and egg contained in a crisp pastry, similar in taste to quiche.

There also rice dishes that are mixed with meats and so forth.

Some other typical Maltese dishes include:

Rabbit – Rabbits are reared and farmed in Malta and are very tasty. There are some restaurants that specialise on just rabbit.

Widow Soup – This is a vegetable soup made with whatever vegetables are in season, cooked in a thick tomato stock. Some people add little pasta to it but this is not necessary.

Arjoli – This is a julienne of vegetables, spiced up and oiled.

Maltese sausage – The Maltese sausage is a confection of spicy minced pork, coriander seeds and parsley, wrapped in stomach lining.

Snails – Cooked with garlic and served with a green sauce made with garlic and fresh herbs and accompanied with fresh crusty Maltese bread.

Lampuki Pie – Filleted dorado mixed with spinach, chestnuts and sultanas and encased in a short-crust pastry.

Pastizzi – Hot pastries filled with either ricotta cheese or peas. The pastry is formed of multiple sheets of transparently thin and crunchy layers.

Stuffed Aubergines – Oven baked aubergines filled with minced meats, breadcrumbs, onions, garlic and parsley.

Bigilla – This is a puree made from beans and herbs.

Timpana – Baked macaroni in a meat tomato sauce wrapped in pastry.

Bragoli – Thin layers of beef form a parcel filled with a hard-boiled egg, pork mince, parsley and breadcrumbs which is then simmered very gently in gravy.

Try some of these today at a range of maltese restaurants around Australia.