Purim Recipes
Hamantashen
Hamantashen, a traditional Purim delight, is a three-cornered pastry filled with a poppy seed or other sweet filling.
Dough
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup butter or margarine
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
Prune Filling
- 1 (12 ounce) package pitted prunes
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Apricot or Plum Filling
- 1 1/2 cups apricot or plum jam
- 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds or walnuts
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (approx.)
Poppy Seed Filling
- 1 cup poppy seed
- 1/4 cup walnut pieces
- 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 egg white
Preparation of dough:
Mix flour, sugar and baking powder in large bowl. Cut in butter, using pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Mix lemon peel, vanilla extract and eggs. Stir into flour mixture until dough forms a ball. (Use hands to mix all ingredients if necessary; add up to 1/4 cup additional flour if dough is too sticky to handle.) Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm.
Prepare desired filling:
- Prune Filling: Heat prunes and enough water to cover to boiling in 2-quart saucepan; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 10 minutes; drain well. Mash prunes. Stir in remaining ingredients.
- Apricot or Plum Filling: Mix jam, almonds, lemon peel and lemon juice. Stir in just enough bread crumbs until thickened.
- Poppy Seed Filling: Place all ingredients in blender or food processor. Cover and blend until smooth.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll half of dough at a time 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered surface. Cut into 3-inch rounds. Spoon 1 level teaspoon filling onto each round. Bring up 3 sides, using metal spatula to lift, to form triangle around filling. Pinch edges together firmly. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
Yield: 48 cookies (1 per serving)
NOTE: To speed up the making of these cookies, use canned apricot or poppy seed filling.
Source: JewishRecipes.org
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Kreplach
Kreplach, a noodle dumpling filled with meat or potatoes, is traditionally served on the Jewish festival of Purim
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 Tbsp. oil
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder or soda
Filling
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 Tbsp. oil
- 1 cup ground beef
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp. matzah meal
Instructions
Dough:
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and oil, In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks, water, and baking powder (or soda). Add to flour mixture. Knead and roll dough out thin on floured board. Use a glass to cut into 3 inch circles.
Filling:
Sauté onion in oil. Add ground beef and brown for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Add salt, pepper, egg, and matzah meal. Mix well.
Place a tsp. of filling in the middle of the dough circle. Lift 3 sides of the dough circle to meet in the center and form a triangle. Press together tightly and pinch corners closed. Moisten edges with top of finger dipped in cold water to keep seams closed.
Place kreplach in boiling, salted water. Cook about 20 minutes until kreplach floats to the top. When ready, remove from pot. Serve kreplach in soup or fry it until golden brown and serve as a side dish.
This recipe comes from Spice and Spirit, The Complete Kosher Jewish Cookbook (Lubavitch Women’s Cookbook Publications, 1990).
Source: Judaism.About.com
Why do Jews eat kreplach on Purim?
Some say that kreplach, stuffed cabbage and other foods with fillings are eaten on Purim because the hidden filling is reminiscent of the surprises and secret meanings wrapped up inside the Purim story.
Another explanation for the Purim kreplach eating tradition centers on the chopped meat in the kreplach. Jews in Eastern Europe began to eat food that had been chopped or beaten on Purim to be consistent with the Purim tradition to make noise, stomp feet, clap hands whenever Haman’s name is mentioned during the reading of the Book of Esther.
A final explanation for why Jews eat kreplach on Purim comes from Alfred J. Kolatch’s The Jewish Book of Why. Kolatch writes that the kreplach’s triangular shape symbolizes the three Jewish patriarch (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). And it was from her antecedents that Esther derived the strength she needed to save the Jews from annihilation in Persia.
Source: Kosherfood.About.com
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