After two years where the shadow of the pandemic reduced seasonal gatherings to small numbers, this December larger groups can celebrate Christmas together. 

As the festive season draws in, we’re all thinking about gathering the whole family around steaming dishes piled high on the table. However, as increasing numbers of people are opting for a vegan or vegetarian diet for environmental, ethical or health reasons – and there are more than 16,000 members of the Facebook group Vegan Malta Eats – how can you please all the family at Christmas lunch time? What’s tasty, healthy and will suit everybody? Plant-based chef and organic farm employee Daniel Pisani – a former self-confessed “couch potato working in IT in the meat industry” – talks about giving a traditional Maltese Christmas menu a plant-based twist that will please young and old alike.

Daniel Pisani

“In winter, the rich greens of seasonal brassicas like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts contrast with the vibrant colour of carrots, citrus fruits, and pumpkins. It's a wonderful time of year for locally-grown ingredients, and using fresh produce grown in Malta is great for your carbon footprint. If you cook with the fruit and vegetables that are in season here in the winter, you’ll be enjoying the most flavoursome dishes. And that’s the starting point for all my recipes,” he says. 

“Wholesome soups are perfect for warming winter dishes and we’ll be having pumpkin soup this Christmas.”  

However, while it’s easy to make a soup using only vegan ingredients, how can you create a plant-based Maltese timpana when this traditional pasta pie is almost synonymous with minced meat, maybe bacon or chicken livers, pastry, cheese and eggs galore? 

“It was a childhood favourite, I must admit,” Pisani smiles. “However, it is possible to make a plant-based version that everyone will love, and in my book A Plant-based Maltese Kitchen I suggest a plant-based pie pastry or, if you are catering for gluten-intolerant diners too, even making pastry from flour that is milled from chickpeas and almonds which this gives the dish a healthy source of proteins and fats while still satisfying that ‘naughty’ craving. The filling replaces meat with brown lentils, a generous sprinkling of herbs, red wine and nutritional yeast, a really handy ingredient which adds a rich meaty cheese-type flavour.

“A lentil nut roast is an easy alternative to a meat roast,” adds Pisani. “It’s very easy to make with chestnuts, hazelnuts or walnuts, and a sauce of smoked paprika and tomato paste. Adding thyme leaves gives a robust earthy – and almost meaty – flavour, and it’s perfect teamed with roast potatoes cooked with rosemary in lashings of olive oil and sprouts which are the classic Christmas vegetable. Roasted with honey or maple syrup they’re delicious. Surely that’s something that everyone will agree on!”

Enjoying imbuljuta is like holding Christmas in a bowl and wrapping your hands around a medley of all the festive spices and aromas from nutmeg and cinnamon to citrus and clove. Rustic and earthy, chestnuts have a sweet and nutty flavour and they’re packed with vitamin C, fibre and potassium. But what would make a thick creamy chestnut and chocolate mousse, that’s as heavenly for vegans and meat-eaters alike? 

“You simply use plant-based milk and add chia seeds as a natural thickener,” says Pisani, “and for the health-conscious, I have created a version with less than half the sweetener used in the traditional version. Nothing should stop you having a warming cup of imbuljuta at Christmas.”

Nanna's favourite trifle.

And can people following a strict plant-based diet enjoy the traditional honey rings?

“Actually they do not contain any honey whatsoever,” laughs Pisani. “They are called ‘honey rings’ because in the past locals used qastanijja, a dark syrup extracted from the melting of honeycombs but that is no longer produced. These days they contain treacle, an extract from the sugar making process, or to keep things local you can make the filling from autumn honey and carob syrup. In the pastry, I recommend using olive oil instead of butter, and I add a little orange blossom water or orange juice in my pastry as well as the filling.”

“Citrus fruits are integral to a Christmas feast,” he continues. “The aroma of fresh oranges, lemons and mandarins wafts through our homes and using citrus zest in desserts imparts a delicately warm and sweet flavour – no Christmas dessert is complete without it.

“When I was young, all the family would wait eagerly for nanna’s favourite trifle, a lemon-rich dessert she only made once a year. We would all gather in her tiny home and she would recount nostalgic stories about our late grandfather and the mischief he would get up to. She has since passed, but I feel her presence every year as I make this trifle with lemon sponge, lemon and carob custards and a topping of fresh strawberries.

“I also have a very easy recipe for a plant-based citrusy Christmas cake, adapted from my grandma’s traditional recipe,” continues Pisani. “I use rice flour so it is perfect for people who are gluten intolerant, and as the sweetness comes from dried fruit including dried oranges, sultanas, raisins, currants, figs and dates it’s a healthy option. As well as orange blossom water or orange juice, I also include a good dash of orange-flavoured triple sec liqueur! It’s delicious.”

You can find all these recipes (except for the lentil and nut roast) in the winter section of Pisani’s book, A Plant-based Maltese Kitchen, a lavishly-illustrated volume that offers seasonal recipes to get the most out of local produce all-year round. I know what I’m hoping for in my Christmas stocking. For more recipes visit lifeofmarrow.com/recipes.