Don’t get me wrong; we LOVE traditional hamantaschen. Yiddish for “Haman’s pockets” and also interpreted in old legend as Haman’s three-cornered hat, some of us consider these delectable sweet pastries as a way to get back at Haman, the villain in the Purim story in the Biblical Book of Esther. To commemorate his downfall, we eat his hat!

Miriam Szokovski, in an article on unique hamantaschen recipes a couple of years back, was really thinking outside the box, or rather, triangle. For fun, we chose a couple of those recipes, both savory and sweet, that could make a full meal of hamantaschen.

(If you’re looking for ideas for dessert versions, check out Szokovski’s latest hamantaschen recipes HERE)

Bon Appetit!

Ingredients

• 3 cups warm cooked sushi rice
• nori, cut into 1″-1 1/2″ strips
• fillings of choice
• toasted sesame seed

Directions
Using a rice mold: Rinse your rice mold with water and fill halfway with sushi rice. With wet hands, make a little indent in the center. Add filling (if you’re using a filling that has a lot of liquid, like pickled vegetables, squeeze out the liquid or the rice will get too wet and fall apart). Cover the filling with more sushi rice, but don’t stuff it. Cover the rice mold with the lid and press down. If you can’t press down all the way, you have used too much rice. If you press down too easily (there should be gentle pressure needed), you have put too little rice. Remove the lid, invert the mold, and press down on the “button” to release.Measure the width around the sides of your onigiri and cut nori strips a little bit bigger than its width (the nori shrinks a little once it forms to the rice). Wrap the nori around the sides of your onigiri. If needed, you can seal the nori where the edges meet by dabbing it with a little bit of water.To make hamantaschen out of the onigiri: Using a piece of paper that is slightly bigger than your onigiri, cut out a triangle shape in the center. Place the paper over your onigir, centering the triangle over your rice and sprinkle sesame seeds over the cut-out.Alternatively, you can roll the sides of you onigiri in sesame seeds and cut your nori into triangles for the center.
Hand-made Onigiri: Wet your hands to keep the sushi rice from sticking to them. Spread a palmful (or less, depending on how big you want the onigiri to be) of warm sushi rice into one hand. Place the filling in the center. Fold up the rice around the filling and pack the rice tightly with both hands into a triangular shape. Continue as above.Onigiri can also be made by hand using plastic wrap to help mold the rice into shape. Place a piece of saran-wrap over a bowl and put a palmful of sushi rice in it. Place the filling in the center. Gather up the saran-wrap around the rice and twist at the top to seal the rice inside. Gently mold the rice into a triangular shape and remove the plastic wrap. Image credits: seriouseats.com

Filling Recipes:

Pickled Vegetables

• shredded carrots
• sliced cucumbers
• sliced radishes
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp kosher salt

Bring the water, vinegar, sugar and salt to a boil. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Add vegetables to a jar and pour pickling brine over them. They should be completely covered. Marinate in the refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. Keeps for 2 weeks.

Wasabi Tuna

• 1 can tuna
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Gold’s wasabi sauce
• 1 tbsp mayo

Drain tuna and remove from can. Flake lightly with a fork. Add soy sauce, wasabi sauce and mayo.

Asian Guacamole

• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated or pickled ginger, diced
• 1 tsp sriracha
• salt, to taste

Lightly mash a few cubes of avocado, leaving the rest in cubes. Mix with scallions, lime, vinegar, ginger, sriracha and salt.

Accompaniments:

Soy sauce, Gold’s wasabi sauce, pickled ginger, spicy mayo.

Spicy Mayo

• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 tbsp sriracha
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Mix well until incorporated.