The mitzvah of Mishloach Manot (in Hebrew “sending portions of food) , or chalach manot, sending a basket of food to friends and family on Purim, is one of the most enjoyable mitzvoth Judaism has. The idea behind it is making sure that all Jews can celebrate the victory over Haman, who wanted all the Jews in the Persian kingdom killed, as described in the Book of Esther. The mitzvah goes beyond family and friends and should be extended to the poor, making sure there’s at least two food portions in a Purim basket.
In any case, this mitzvah is a great excuse to show off your inner baker. And traditional Purim baked goods from around the Jewish world will surely inspire you to do just that.
Demonstrating the great Jewish sense of humor, many of the dishes that are served in Purim have to do with Haman’s organs. Moroccan Jews have the Ojos De Haman, a challah baked around hard boiled eggs (or haminados – overnight boiled eggs), that symbolize Haman’s eyes. Then there is the Greek or Turkish Folares, a hard boiled egg wrapped in strips of sweet dough, which represent Haman’s feet (or, according to another version, Haman in prison). And there’s the Italian Orecchie Di Amman, Haman’s ears that are sweet fried spiral shape pastries. Greek Jews cook tiny dough cookies in honey they call Hama’s teeth, sweet phyllo dough “cigars” named Haman’s fingers, and even more disturbing, they created a sesame candy called “fleas of Haman”. Seriously.
Coincidentally or not, the Italian Orecchie di Amman are very similar to other Sephardi sweets that are served during Purim, but are known under other names. The Iraqi Zingulah, the Yemeni Zalabia, the Sephardi Fijuela. All are deep fried dough that is dusted with sugar or drizzled with honey or sweet syrup. All are staples of Hanukkah as well.
In Israel, Oznei Haman, Hebrew for Haman’s ears, really refer to Hamantaschen. But the hamantaschen look nothing like ears and were originally supposed to represent Haman’s pocket or his hat. Except that the triangle shaped hats were invented around Napoleon’s time, some couple of thousands of years later.
But who cares? Hamantaschen, in their Israeli version of flaky crust, were always my favorite sweets. Maybe it was the fact that you had to wait a whole year to have them. But more than anything it was thanks to the homemade poppy seed filling that was always popular in Israel, where I grew up. Homemade poppy seed filling has nothing to do with the horrible store bought one and I encourage you to prepare poppy seed hamataschen at home yourselves.
Try other cookies, from your own repertoire or mine, arrange them all on a nice platter, wrap with paper, and give as a gift to someone you care about. Nothing is better than this.