Hamantaschen are among the most iconic of traditional Jewish dishes, being the confectionery of choice as winter begins to wane and the Purim holiday comes in.
But while most people tend to view these cookies as being simple desserts or snacks filled with a variety of fillings, some bold bakers have dared to ask: What if you filled a hamantaschen with meat?
Far from some bizarre fringe trend, this is something that has been picking up steam throughout the Internet. And the idea has considerable merit. After all, hamantaschen are very similar in concept to bourekas, which can be filled with meat too.
One Israeli TikToker, Yael Kazav (@yaelkazav2), even released a video recently showing a recipe for beef hamantaschen, which she describes as being perfect for the seudat Purim.
We at The Jerusalem Post think it looks delicious, and commenters on social media thought so too.
"Wow, excellent idea, and it looks good, too," one commenter wrote.
"This is the bomb," wrote another.
Here is her recipe. Try it out yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments.
https://www.tiktok.com/@yaelkazav2/video/7345387337225964807?_r=1&_t=8klzJsKOnsg
Meat-filled hamantaschen
Ingredients
1 thawed puff pastry
3 tbsp oil
Half a kilo of ground meat
1 onion, diced
1 eggplant
Half a bunch of parsley, chopped
1 tsp salt
Half a tsp black pepper
Half a tsp of ground allspice
A quarter tsp of crushed chili pepper
1 egg, beaten
Black and white sesame seeds
Instructions:
Use a fork to prick an eggplant and put it in the oven on baking paper for 20 minutes at the highest temperature until it softens. Then, cut it open with a knife and take out the core.
Put the oil in a hot pan and fry the onion cubes until they turn golden brown. Add the meat and mush it with a wooden spoon.
Add the contents of the eggplant, spices, and parsley into the pan and mix. Turn off the heat and set aside the pan to cool for 20 minutes so the meat won't melt the dough.
Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Spread the puff pastry on a solid surface and make relatively large circles with a cup or a cookie cutter.
Fill a heaping tablespoon of the mixed meat into each circle, then fold the circles into the triangular shape of a hamantaschen.
Put the hamantaschen into a pan lined with baking paper. Brush the dough with egg and sesame seeds and place it in the oven for 20 minutes until golden.
But what about salty hamantaschen? Well, we have recipes for those ones, too. Here is one video from TikToker Noy Avneri. Read the description for the full recipe.
And lastly, if you want something really outside the box, another user on TikTok, @kosherinthekitch, has shared a video of their own unique spin on the Purim staple: A Hamantaschen... made out of Malawach.
No doubt it's as good as it looks.
Which of these hamantaschen options seems best to you? Let us know.