Kolel: Jewish Holidays > Purim > Hamantashen & Purim Foods

Purim Foods

In addition to Hamantashen, a number of other foods are associated with the holiday of Purim. Italian Jews also prepared a pastry called 'orecchi di Haman' (ears of Haman). Because the Purim is topsy-turvy, and one of the themes of Purim and the megillah is how the appearances are deceiving, and insides are hidden by outward appearances, filled pastries (such as kreplach) are also popular.

Another tradition is to eat seeds and legumes, like chick-peas, based on the midrash that Esther ate only vegetarian food when in the palace in order to keep kosher. Alternatively, some eat turkey (possibly because Achashverosh was as intelligent as the bird, or because he ruled from 'Hodu' to 'Kush.' The North American fowl we call 'turkey' is called in Hebrew 'tarnegol hodu' (literally chicken from India).

Purim

Hamantashen

Hamantashen, (probably a corruption of 'mun-tashen'- meaning poppy pockets) a triangular pastry stuffed with poppy seed, prune or jam filling, has become associated with Purim. It is said to represent Haman's three cornered hat- (even though the Yiddish word means Haman's pockets, and the Hebrew: Oznei Haman mean Haman's ears!)

Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz's Bubbe's Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar (or a little more if you like)
3 eggs (either use small eggs or add more flour)
3 cups flour plus extra flour for rolling the dough
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup orange juice and the zest of one orange (these are the words of my mother, but reb Avi says in the name of my sister Ruthy, the juice and rind of a SMALL lemon and orange)
Whatever filling you like (we usually buy store-bought prune, poppy, and apricot plus at least one experimental filling.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix the sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs. Add the citrus zest. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture alternately with the juice to the rest of the ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour.
Hopefully, the dough is now rollable. If not, add a little more flour. Take a chunk of the dough and roll it out on a well-floured surface until it's about an eighth of an inch thick. Cut our circles of dough about 3 inches (8 cm) round. Put a teaspoon of filling in the centre of the circles and lift the edges of the circle from three points, pinching the edges together to form the classic hamentasch-Mercedes pattern. Take the remainder of the rolled dough and smush it up and roll it again, continuing the process until you have no more dough.

Bake the hamentashen until golden and delicious. Eat a few hamentash.
Package the rest with some raisins and chocolate and distribute to friends, neighbours and perfect strangers. This is called in Hebrew Mishloach Manot. But that's much too formal. The Yiddish is Shalekhmahnes.