🇲🇹 Maltese Recipes

Traditional Mediterranean Cuisine

Fenek Moqli (Maltese Fried Rabbit)

A traditional Maltese fried rabbit dish, marinated then cooked with garlic, white wine, and herbs until golden and fragrant.

Prep: 20 minutes (plus at least 1 hour marinating) Cook: 35-40 minutes Servings: 4 people
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Watercolour illustration of golden fried rabbit pieces with garlic, parsley and lemon.

Ingredients

Measures: 1 tbsp = 15ml; 1 tsp = 5ml. For local ingredient names and substitutions, see our guide to Maltese ingredients abroad.

Instructions

  1. Marinate: Season rabbit pieces with salt, pepper, bay leaf, and dried herbs. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and lemon juice. Leave to marinate for at least 1 hour (overnight is better).
  2. Brown the rabbit: Heat olive oil in a wide heavy pan over medium heat. Add rabbit pieces and fry until well browned on all sides, about 15-20 minutes total. Turn occasionally so they develop a golden crust.
  3. Add garlic and wine: Add sliced garlic and cook gently without burning. Pour in white wine and let it reduce for 3-4 minutes. Lower heat, cover loosely, and cook another 15-20 minutes until tender.
  4. Finish: Increase heat briefly to crisp slightly if needed. Sprinkle generously with fresh parsley. Adjust seasoning and squeeze a little more lemon if desired.

Fenek Moqli is a Maltese fried rabbit dish. In this version, the meat is marinated, then cooked with garlic, white wine, and herbs. Serve it as a main course with potatoes and bread; the cultural note below explains how rabbit can also form part of a longer fenkata meal.

How It’s Traditionally Served

  • As a rabbit main course, with a separate pasta starter if you are planning a longer meal
  • With fried potatoes
  • With crusty Maltese bread
  • Sometimes with a simple green salad

Traditional Notes & Tips

  • The flavour should be garlicky but balanced
  • It is rustic, not battered or breadcrumbed
  • Some cooks use lard instead of olive oil for a more traditional countryside taste

Fenek Moqli and the fenkata table

A fenkata is a rabbit meal, rather than a rule that a full rabbit stew must precede fried rabbit. MÄ¡arr’s Il-Barri describes spaghetti with rabbit sauce first, followed by rabbit served for sharing.

Frying and stewing are different ways to prepare the meat. Gozitan food producer It-Tokk describes Fenek Moqli with salad, fries, and crusty bread. For the garlic-and-wine version above, choose those accompaniments or keep the meal to rabbit and bread.