In nineteenth-century America, kichlers
or Haman's Ears for Purim Night were small cookies (kichel is
cookie in Yiddish), sometimes made from a pound-cake batter,
deep-fried in butter, and bathed in sugar syrup flavored with
cinnamon and rose water. Notice that butter was used in this
age before vegetable shortening.
Haman's Ears is also the American name for a kichel, kichelkies,
or hazenblosen (blown-up little pants), thin strips of fried
dough sprinkled with confectioners' sugar, similar to the Italian
bugie served at Carnivale in February. "When I would ask
my grandmother how much red wine to use in her kichelkies, she
would reply, 'Half and egg shell,'" said Flora Atkin, who
enjoys making traditional family recipes for holidays. "She
used to say, 'I know my recipe won't die because my granddaughter
will carry on the tradition.'" She was right. Before Rosh
Hashanah, each year, Mrs. Atkin makes kichelkies on an assembly
line with three frying pans going at once.
Flora Atkin's Dutch
Kichelkies (Little Kichel)
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sweet red wine
1/2 to 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
Vegetable oil or Crisco for deep-frying
Confectioners' (powdered) sugar
- Beat the egg well. Then add salt, wine,
and gradually the flour until you have a sticky elastic dough,
almost like the consistency of molasses.
- Flour your hands and break off pieces
not much bigger than a marble. Roll out paper-thin on a floured
surface. Cut in segments approximately 2 by 4 inches (dough the
size of a large marble will make about 3), or cut on the diagonal
very thin strips or whatever shape you wish.
- Pour about 2 inches of oil into a heavy
frying pan and heat to 375°F (190°C). Slide the strips carefully into the hot oil.
Let cook a few seconds on each side. Soon they will bubble and
puff up like hazenblosen. Remove with a spatula and drain on
paper towels. When cool sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Eat
immediately or let sit, covered well, for one day with plastic
wrap.
Yield: about 20 (P).
Recipe from: Jewish Cooking in America by Joan Nathan.
