Chokos are way underrated and a few of my Maltese recipes prove just how underrated they are. In this recipe I stuff my artichokes with mince and fresh homemade Maltese cheese (you can use ricotta if you don’t have fresh Maltese cheese).
I knew we had a choko plant at home but when I spoke to mum she corrected me and said that we had three. We however didn’t do much with them apart from putting them in our Maltese minestra. So what else to do with chokos? Thankfully my cousin from Australia who now lives in Malta came over for a surprise visit recently. I asked him what his family or anyone he knows did with chokos. Stuff them was his answer and the other option was slice and deep fry them.
I decided to stuff them with a mixture of mince and fresh Maltese cheese which I made. Usually you see our vegetables stuffed with either mince or cheese (ricotta if you don’t use fresh Maltese cheese). I decided to use both to see the results. They were great. The one tip to know is that when you prepare the choko make sure you simmer in a pot of water for about 20 minutes before stuffing and baking. They do not bake well if you don’t (I tried). I also used cooked mince when stuffing the chokos and I may try next time to use uncooked mince. It still turned out well but as I had it in the oven for about an hour I think the meat would have cooked just as well while baking in the oven.
Give the choko a chance. It really is a lovely vegetable to try. The taste is like marrows (they are related) only milder.
- 150 grams of cooked mince (I added onion, garlic, tomato paste and garlic to the mince when frying)
- 150 grams of fresh Maltese cheese (use ricotta if you do not have Maltese cheese)
- 1 lighlty beaten egg
- 2 tablespoons hard cheese such as dried Maltese cheese or parmesan
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 chokos cut in half length ways
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Scoop some flesh out of each of your 4 chokos (about 2 tablespoons each). Don't discard the flesh. This can be used in soup.
- Place the 4 chokos in a pot of boiling water and simmer for 20 minutes. You should be able to pierce a fork through the flesh although it will still be a little firm.
- Mix all the other ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper.
- Take out the chokos and place in a baking tray.
- Preheat oven to 160oc.
- Place an equal amount of the mixture into the chokos.
- Drizzle with a little olive oil.
- Place in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour.