A vegetarian savory version of Purim hamantaschen stuffed with sauteed mushroom and onion and topped with goat cheese and fresh thyme.

In a few weeks, Jews all over the world will celebrate the festival of Purim, a carnival holiday where people are encouraged to dress in costume and make merry. Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from an evil government minister, named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish community in ancient Persia.

Hamantaschen, a triangular filled cookie, is the signature food of Purim for Ashkenazi Jews. The cookie’s shape is said to come from the three-cornered hat that the villain Haman wore. As a cookie, hamantaschen have a bad reputation.  All Jewish kids have been traumatized by eating a soggy, tasteless hamantaschen filled with unpleasant prunes or not-very-sweet poppy seeds. That is not what anyone is hoping for when biting into a cookie!

Much better, in my view, to make a savory version of hamantaschen with a easy, yeast-risen pastry shell. (Looking for a sweet Purim recipe? I recommend my lemon poppyseed cake.) Indeed, savory filled pastries have a long history in Jewish cuisine. For example, check out this recipe for bishak, a savory pastry that is a specialty of Jews from Central Asia. And I am certainly not the first person to think of making hamantaschen with a savory filling instead of sweet. Just one of the most enthusiastic.

Every year, it seems, I try to make a new kind of savory hamantaschen. Last year, I filled my savory hamantaschen with beef and classic Middle Eastern spices like dried mint, allspice, cinnamon and cloves. The year before, I created a Moroccan-inspired savory hamantaschen stuffed with lamb and preserved lemon.

But this year, like everyone else, I am trying to eat more plants, so I decided that the right thing to do would be to make a vegetarian savory hamantaschen. Vegetarian dishes are especially symbolic for Purim. In the Purim story, when Queen Esther was living in the court of the Persian king, hiding her Jewish faith, she subsisted on a vegetarian diet of nuts and seeds to avoid breaking the laws of kosher. Thus, today, many Jewish families eat a vegetarian or even vegan meal on Purim in honor of Esther’s adherence to a vegetarian diet.

I asked some readers on my Facebook page what kind of filling I should use in a vegetarian version of savory hamantaschen and one of you – thanks!- suggested mushroom. I love that idea because mushrooms, with their meaty texture and deep umami flavor, are an ideal meat substitute. This combination of mushrooms, onions, and thyme is classic and for good reason. Don’t be tempted to skip the goat cheese however; the addition of a creamy, tangy chèvre makes the dish, in my opinion.

If you are unsure how to fold the hamantaschen into triangles – when they start out as cut-out circles, I took this picture of the folding process. I start by making a straight line at the bottom of the circle and pinching the corners. Then pinch the top corner closed. Close the sides of the hamantaschen firmly, or they will open up in the oven.

While I created this recipe because Purim is around the corner, there is no need to limit savory hamantaschen to once a year. Savory pastries like these are marvelous for entertaining and snacking all year round. This recipe makes around two dozen little pastries and they are perfect finger food: easy to eat, hand-held and not messy or drippy.

Imagine what a perfect hors d’oeuvres or cocktail party bite these mushroom-filled hamataschen would make. Plus, they even freeze well, so you can make them in advance. It is no wonder that savory pastries are a staple of mezze platters all over the Sephardic world.

What are you serving for Purim this year?

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Vegetarian Savory Hamantaschen for Purim

Ingredients

Dough
• Dough
• 2 tsp instant or active dry yeast
• 1 cup plus 2 TB warm water
• Pinch sugar
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• Pinch salt
• 1 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 1 egg
Filling
• 3 TB extra virgin olive oil plus more as needed
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 lb mushroom, diced
• 1 TB Balsamic vinegar
• 4 oz fresh goat cheese
• Fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Prepare the dough: if using active dry yeast, dissolve the yeast with a pinch of sugar in 1/2 cup warm water and leave for ten minutes until it froths. (If using instant yeast, skip this step and mix instant yeast directly in with the flour.)
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, oil and egg and add the yeast mixture. Mix with a fork and work in remaining water as needed for dough to hold together.
4. Knead for five to ten minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Place dough in well-oiled bowl, cover and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled, about one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes.
6. While the dough is rising, make the filling. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan.
7. Saute the onion until softened, about ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Add half the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. If skillet looks dry, add more olive oil. After the first batch of mushrooms has cooked down, about ten minutes, add the remaining mushrooms, again adding more oil if the pan seems dry or the vegetables are sticking.
9. Saute over medium-low heat until the mushrooms have cooked down and stopped giving off liquid, about 30 minutes total. Deglaze the pan by adding the Balsamic vinegar and scraping up any brown bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
10. When dough is risen, punch down and divide into four pieces. Keeping other pieces covered, take one piece and roll it out on a lightly floured board as thinly as possible.
11. Cut dough into 4-inch rounds. Gather up any dough scraps and roll those out as well. You should have 6-7 rounds of dough.
12. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each round.
13. Using two hands, fold in two sides of the circle and pinch together. Fold up the bottom side of the triangle and pinch all three corners together. (Close well or pastries will open up when baked.) Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
14. Place filled pastries on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat.
15. Beat egg with one tablespoon of water. Brush pastries with egg wash.
16. Bake pastries for 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
17. Crumble goat cheese over each pastry and garnish with a few leaves of thyme.
18. Leftover pastries can be stored in the refrigerator for several days. Reheat or toast before serving. Pastries can also be wrapped well and frozen. Thaw and reheat before serving.

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