Cookies, Cocktails and Pastries to Celebrate Purim

Though hamantaschen may be the most well-known Purim treat, Jews around the world bring local cultural influences to the table. Syrian Jews serve ghraybeh, a traditional shortbread cookie topped with a pistachio or almond. Greek and Turkish Jews have platters of “Haman’s fingers,” sweet nut-filled cigar pastries. Moroccan Jews offer chebakia — fried, syrup-soaked cookies in the shape of flowers. French Jews use sweet puffy pastry to make palmiers to represent Haman’s supposedly misshapen ears. 

There are more than sweets. Greek Jews make folares, dough wrapped around a hard-boiled egg, which symbolizes Haman’s head. Iraqi Jews dig into sambusak, a deep-fried dough filled with chickpeas, meat or cheese. And the Bukharan Jews from Central Asia enjoy kadoo bishak (recipe below), a savory triangular pastry filled with pumpkin, onion, garlic and spices.

The takeaway from all these stuffed delights is the idea of “masking and disguising,” says Rishi Hein, mother of eight and education director for Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish group based in Pittsford, New York, known for educating and cultivating spirituality among Jews around the world.

Just as Esther hid her Jewish identity, God, who is not mentioned in the story, is also hiding. “But if we look deeper, we can take off the mask and reveal the hand of God in everything,” Hein says.

Photo: Dan Perez, styled by Nurit Kariv; Courtesy: Avery Books

KADOO BISHAK (Taught to Sussman by Ben Siman Tov)

(Makes 9 pastries)

FILLING INGREDIENTS

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced (8 cups)
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ras el hanout or garam masala
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

DOUGH INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup water, more if needed
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1½ teaspoons sugar
• 3¾ cups flour, more as needed
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon nigella seeds or black sesame seeds

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

2. Make the filling: In a large bowl, combine the squash, onion, garlic, olive oil, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the ras el hanout and pepper. Spread on a large, rimmed baking sheet and roast, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly caramelized, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes, then transfer to a bowl, add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and mash until chunky-smooth. You should have about 3 cups filling.

3. Make the dough: While the squash is cooling, in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the water, yeast and sugar. Let rest until the yeast is bloomed and frothy, seven or eight minutes. Add the flour and oil, fit the mixer with the dough attachment, and knead on medium speed for two minutes. Add the salt and continue to knead until the dough is smooth, an additional four or five minutes. (You can knead entirely by hand for about 10 minutes.)

4. Form the dough into a ball, place in a lightly floured bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rest in a warm place until doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour. Uncover the dough and divide it into nine equal-sized pieces, then form each piece into a ball, tucking the ends underneath and pinching them together gently to help encourage a nice round shape. Cover the doughballs with a clean kitchen towel and let them rest for 10 minutes.

5. Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°F. Uncover the dough, gently flour each ball, and on a clean, lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough up and down to form a 6- to 7-inch oval. Rotate the oval 90 degrees, then roll the dough again; it should roll into a beautiful 6-inch round. (If the dough begins to stick, lift it and lightly dust your counter with a little more flour.)

6. Once rolled, arrange ⅓ cup filling at the center of each circle, pressing down on the filling slightly. To shape the bishak, bring three points at the edges of each round into the center to form a triangle, pinching where the edges meet to seal. Once sealed, pinch a bit more to form a raised ¼ inch of dough at each of the seams.

7. Arrange on two parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between triangles. Brush with the beaten egg, sprinkle with the nigella seeds, and bake, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and back to front midway through, 23 to 25 minutes.

Party hearty with a delicious cocktail

What’s not to love about a holiday when cocktails are part of the tradition? Adults enjoy the directive to drink until they can’t differentiate between Haman and Mordecai.

Sussman celebrates with specialty cocktails such as her almondy vodka limonana, a minty spiced lemonade, or a pomegroni. She says in her book that fresh pomegranate juice is a refreshing twist for a cocktail.

POMEGRANATE SUMAC MARGARITAS

Makes 4 drinks

Active time: 20 minutes

Total time (including steeping): 1 hour, 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 6 small limes plus lime wheels for garnish
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ cup water
• 4 tablespoons ground sumac
• 1 tablespoon plus a pinch of kosher salt
• 8 ounces tequila
• 8 ounces pomegranate juice
• Ice cubes

DIRECTIONS

1. Finely zest two of the limes (you should have 2 teaspoons zest). Use a Y-peeler to peel wide strips of zest from a third lime. Juice all six limes (you should have about ¾ cup [6 ounces] juice).

2. Bring the ½ cup sugar, the water and the wide lime zest strips to a simmer over medium-low heat in a small saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for two minutes, remove from the heat, then stir in 3 tablespoons of the sumac and a pinch of the salt; let steep one hour. Press the syrup through a fine-mesh sieve; discard the solids (you should have ½ cup syrup).

3. To make two drinks, combine 4 ounces each of the tequila and pomegranate juice, 3 ounces of the lime juice and 2 tablespoons of the sumac syrup in a large cocktail shaker.

4. Before you shake the cocktails, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon each kosher salt and sumac with the finely grated lime zest on a small plate. Place 1 tablespoon of the syrup on another small plate and dip the rim of two rocks glasses in the syrup, then in the sumac-salt mixture. Add ½ cup ice cubes to the shaker and shake vigorously until a little frothy, five to 10 seconds. Carefully fill the rimmed glasses with ice, then divide the cocktail among the two glasses. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make the two additional cocktails. Garnish the glasses with lime wedges, if desired.

Get in costume

Sometimes referred to as the Jewish Halloween, Purim celebrations include costumes. Children (and adults) dress as the story’s central characters, as well as witches, chefs, ogres or superheroes. Sussman says she and her husband tend to dress in costumes based on current affairs. Fields bakes while wearing a pink-tipped cow’s ears headband. It’s all in good fun. 

There’s a tradition of spoofing the story with a spiel, a play. “They buy a script and tell the Purim story but with a theme,” Fields says. “This year is Wizard of Oz. One year, it was an ’80s theme; one year, Hamilton, Jersey Boys, ABBA.”

Reading with a ruckus

Reading the story of Esther aloud is another fun tradition — and a loud one.

Participants are encouraged to blot out the evil Haman’s name by booing, hissing, stamping their feet or cranking a grogger (noisemaker) each time his name is said (54 times if you’re wondering). At Fields’ temple, congregants shake boxes of pasta, which are later donated to a food pantry.

The themes of the holiday are important, Hein says.

“The miracle of Purim was brought about by Jews uniting and standing together. When they came together at the darkest moment, things turned around, and they ended up victorious.”