# Maltese Food Glossary: Ingredients and Cooking Words in English

Source: https://www.malteserecipes.com/maltese-food-glossary/

Understand Maltese recipe names with an English glossary of ingredients and cooking words, including tewm, mimli, ġbejna, lampuki, and il-forn.





Maltese dish names often tell you the main ingredient or how it is cooked. **Tewm** means garlic, **mimli** means stuffed or filled in a recipe name, and **il-forn** points to the oven. Learning a few of these words makes a recipe list or menu much easier to read.

This is a cooking glossary, with examples from the recipes on this site. It is not a complete dictionary or a guarantee of every restaurant's ingredients. For quantities and substitutions, use the [ingredient guide](/maltese-ingredients-abroad/); for an introduction to the dishes themselves, use [Maltese food explained](/maltese-food-explained/).

## What Does Tewm Mean?

**Tewm is garlic.** In a dish name, *bit-tewm* means with garlic. [Ful bit-Tewm](/recipes/ful-bit-tewm/) pairs broad beans with garlic, while [Qarnit bit-Tewm](/recipes/qarnit-bit-tewm/) uses octopus. The shared words describe the flavouring, not the same main ingredient. See the [dictionary entry for tewm](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tewm).

Fresh cloves, dried garlic, and garlic powder behave differently in a pan. Follow the form and amount given in the recipe instead of treating the translated name as a shopping quantity.

## Vegetables, Beans, and Flavourings

| Maltese word | English meaning and a recipe to try |
| --- | --- |
| Tewm | Garlic: [broad beans with garlic](/recipes/ful-bit-tewm/) |
| Basal | Onions: [liver with onions](/recipes/fwied-bil-basal/) |
| Patata | Potatoes: [Patata l-Forn](/recipes/patata-l-forn/) |
| Qarabagħli | Marrows or courgettes: [stuffed marrows](/recipes/qarabaghli-mimli/) |
| Brunġiel | Aubergines or eggplants: [stuffed aubergines](/recipes/brungiel-mimli/) |
| Piżelli | Peas: [pea pastizzi](/recipes/pastizzi-tal-pizelli/) |
| Ful | Broad beans or fava beans: [Kusksu](/recipes/kusksu/) |
| Bżar | Pepper; in [Bżar Mimli](/recipes/bzar-mimli/), the peppers are whole sweet peppers for stuffing |

Fresh broad beans and dried beans need different preparation. Similarly, a large marrow for stuffing is not necessarily interchangeable with a small courgette without changing the size of the portions. The English meaning gets you to the right ingredient family; the recipe tells you which form to buy.

## Meat, Fish, and Cheese

| Maltese word | English meaning and a recipe to try |
| --- | --- |
| Laħam | Meat: [Torta tal-Laħam](/recipes/torta-tal-laham/) uses minced beef in this version |
| Ċanga | Beef: [Laħam taċ-Ċanga fuq il-Fwar](/recipes/laham-tac-canga-fuq-il-fwar/) |
| Fenek | Rabbit: [Stuffat tal-Fenek](/recipes/stuffat-tal-fenek/) |
| Zalzett | Sausage: [Zalzett Malti biż-Zalza](/recipes/zalzett-malti-biz-zalza/) |
| Lampuki | Mahi-mahi or dolphinfish: [fried lampuki](/recipes/lampuki-moqlija/) |
| Qarnit | Octopus: [octopus stew](/recipes/stuffat-tal-qarnit/) |
| Klamari | Squid: [stuffed squid](/recipes/klamari-mimli/) |
| Irkotta | Ricotta: [savoury ricotta pie](/recipes/torta-tal-irkotta/) |
| Ġbejna / ġbejniet | One cheeselet / several cheeselets: read the [ġbejniet guide](/gbejniet-maltese-cheese/) before choosing fresh, dried, or peppered cheese |

The type of meat or cheese still matters. *Laħam* alone does not specify beef or pork, and *ġbejniet* does not tell you whether a cheeselet is fresh or dried. Read the filling as well as the title before choosing a dish.

## Cooking Words in Recipe Names

| Word or phrase | What it tells you |
| --- | --- |
| Mimli | Stuffed or filled, as in [Klamari Mimli](/recipes/klamari-mimli/) |
| Moqli / moqlija | Fried, as in [Fenek Moqli](/recipes/fenek-moqli/) and [Lampuki Moqlija](/recipes/lampuki-moqlija/) |
| Mixwi | Roasted or grilled; [Pixxispad Mixwi](/recipes/pixxispad-mixwi/) is grilled swordfish in our version |
| Il-forn / l-forn | Cooked in the oven, as in [Ross il-Forn](/recipes/ross-il-forn/) and [Patata l-Forn](/recipes/patata-l-forn/) |
| Stuffat | Stew, as in [Stuffat tal-Qarnit](/recipes/stuffat-tal-qarnit/) |
| Zalza | Sauce, as in [Tonn biż-Zalza](/recipes/tonn-biz-zalza/) |
| Soppa | Soup, as in [Soppa tal-Armla](/recipes/soppa-tal-armla/) |

**Mimli describes the filling technique, not a vegetarian dish.** Stuffed vegetables may contain meat, rice, cheese, or eggs. Our marrows and peppers have their own ingredient lists; do not infer dietary suitability from the vegetable in the name.

## Bread and Sweet Ingredients

- **Ħobż** means bread. [Ħobż Malti](/recipes/hobz-malti/) is the loaf recipe; [Ħobż biż-Żejt](/recipes/hobz-biz-zejt/) is a prepared bread dish with oil, tomato, and toppings in this version.
- **Lewż** means almonds. [Biskuttini tal-Lewż](/recipes/biskuttini-tal-lewz/) are almond biscuits.
- **Qastan** means chestnuts. [Imbuljuta tal-Qastan](/recipes/imbuljuta-tal-qastan/) combines them with chocolate and spice.
- **Għasel** means honey, but the name [Qagħaq tal-Għasel](/recipes/qaghaq-tal-ghasel/) does not establish the filling: our rings use treacle or dark molasses.

## Finding Names Without Maltese Letters

You may see **hobz**, **gbejniet**, **qaghaq**, or **pizelli** when a keyboard or label omits Maltese letters. The site's [recipe search](/recipes/#recipe-search) accepts these spellings as well as ħobż, ġbejniet, qagħaq, and piżelli.

Try one main word first, then narrow by ingredient or category. If you are deciding what to cook rather than translating a name, the [recipe collections](/collections/) group dishes into meals, techniques, and occasions.