In ancient Persia, where the Purim story unfolds, the Book of Esther introduces the volatile, despotic ruler King Ahasuerus. From his opulent capital in Shushan, his word set the rules of the empire. Having disposed of his wife, Queen Vashti, he gave orders to round up all the beautiful young women of the empire and have them brought to Shushan. They would undergo a year of beautification. Only then would he choose a new queen. Esther, a Jewish orphan living in the household of her cousin, Mordechai, was among the young women taken.
Inside the harem, Esther endured the same regimen as everyone else: a year of cosmetics and training in palace protocol, all meant to make the women pleasing to the king. There was no opting out. And remembering what Ahasuerus did to Vashti, the stakes were obvious. On Mordechai’s advice, and to protect herself in a place where being different could be dangerous, Esther didn’t reveal her Jewish identity.
But she never forgot who she was and the people she came from. She even managed to maintain kashrut by refusing non-kosher meat and eating only dairy, raw produce, nuts, and seeds.
As we know, Esther and Mordechai foiled evil Haman’s plot to annihilate Jews throughout the empire. If Haman’s plan had gone through, you and I wouldn’t be here today.
Esther and Mordechai’s courage, strategy, and timing overturned it, saving their people from catastrophe. Purim is the celebration of that reversal, when what seemed inevitable was suddenly undone.
To honor Esther’s bravery and remember her triumph, we eat foods that conceal their filling in a pastry shell, as she hid her true self until the climactic moment of truth. Here is one such delicacy, cheese sambusak, sprinkled with sesame seeds, reminiscent of the ones Esther ate in the palace of Ahasuerus.
You may find ready-made sambusak pastry for filling (or order it online). If you’d rather make the dough from scratch, a recipe is included below.
Queen Esther’s Cheese Sambusak
PrintIngredients
Homemade sambusak dough
- 2-2/3 cups (400 grams) self-rising flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup lukewarm water
Sambusak filling
- 1 cup shredded feta cheese
- 1 cup shredded kashkeval cheese You may use 2 cups of one type of cheese, if preferred
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
- 3 eggs
- Salt, to taste
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1 10-ounce (280-gram) package sambusak dough (or the homemade dough described above)
- 2-3 tbsp sesame seeds, for sprinkling
- 1 tsp water
Instructions
If you are making your own sambusak dough
- Mix the flour and salt.
- Add the lukewarm water little by little; just enough to form a soft but flexible dough.
- Knead it a few minutes. If sticky, add a tablespoon or so of flour.
- Cover the dough and leave at room temperature for an hour.
- Pull off 12 pieces of dough of about the same size.
- Roll the pieces into balls between your hands.
- Flour a work surface lightly or put down a sheet of baking parchment and roll the dough out on that.
- With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough balls thinly to make circles.
- Fill the circles as described in next section
- Bake at 300° Fahrenheit (150°Celsius) for 35-40 minutes.
For filling
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit (175°Celsius).
- Beat 2 eggs in a medium bowl.
- Add the shredded cheeses and baking soda to the eggs. Taste a little to determine if the filling needs salt: feta and kashkeval are salty cheeses, so judge accordingly.
- Mix well.
- Place dough circles (either homemade or commercially-bought) on a lightly floured surface. Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle. Fold them in half to create a half-moon shape.
- Press all around the edge with your fingers or a fork, to keep the filling from escaping.
- Place the filled sambusak on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Use a straight spatula to lift them if necessary.
- Beat the extra egg with 1 teaspoon water and brush it over the sambusak. Sprinkle sesame seeds over each.
- Bake for 25–30 minutes, until golden.
