Chapter 18, Mi BaHoser

The day after Tova’s wedding when I returned from school, I picked my brother from the kindergarten and we both walked home sharing the experience of the Yemenite wedding. Behind the Okev’s house we found two crates of empty glass bottles. Remembering that Mr. Okev got us in trouble before, I sent Avi to ask him if it is ok for us to play with the bottles.

“They are empty, you say?” I heard the voice of Mr. Okev. He didn’t sound like he had time for silly questions. “I am not going to drink them, am I? He said, “Go ahead play with them.”

“He is so mean!” Avi complained “let’s play with them, see how they explode against the wall.”

I put my bag on the floor and drew a line on the ground two yards away from the floor.

“Let’s see who get the bigger explosion if we throw them from here.” I said, picked up one buttle and aimed at the wall. The bottle exploded immediately as it hit the wall. Avi’s bottle did the same. We kept on throwing them one after the other. Some exploded big and some didn’t right away, we had to throw them again a few times.

“What is going on there?” I heard Mr. Okev yell as he was walking out of his house. “Put that bottle down!”

“You said we can play with them!” I said as I was replacing the last bottle into the crate.

 “Play with them, you stupid kids, Not break them!”

“I told you he was mean,” said Avi as I picked up my bag and walked home. 

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go to Nehemiah’s house. He has a “Mi BaHoser”.

Purim was and still is my favorite holiday. We get to dress up like our favorite characters, we get to act silly. In fact, almost everyone dresses up. Not only kids; the bus drivers, the bank tellers, the teachers and everyone in the street. We all walked up and down the main street showing our costumes. We had parties at school, at friends’ houses and little celebrations at home. My friends from school would have “Homan Tashens” - little triangle folded cookies stuffed with sweeten puppy seeds we call them in Hebrew “The Ears of Haman” - “Oznei Haman”. My Mom would make her Tunisian pastries. “Orellets” - deep fried pasta dough dipped in honey. Or “Yoyo” - hard donuts, also deep fried and dipped in honey. My dad loved them, and he used to dunk them in his morning coffee. Yet, some of our favorite things to do were the games we played.

Purim comes in the beginning of the spring in Israel, and if it doesn’t rain (most of the time it doesn’t) we all get to play outside, either with our toy guns being cowboys and Indians. Or for those of us who didn't have the money to buy toy guns who make real explosion noises we made our own home-made noise maker. There were two ways to make a noise maker (don't try it at home, these toys were banned because of many bad accidents). It depends on how available tools are for you. The more complicated one to make was 90 degrees bent steel rod forming the letter “L” with the long part as the handle. At the tip of the short side, we drilled a hole the size of a thick nail. We got a nail, cut the sharp tip off and made sure it fits well and snug in the hole. Next, we scraped the tip of a match or two and stuff the red powder in the hole. We’d pack it with the nail and keep the nail covering the powder.

 

    The way the game was played is simple. One of the kids would yell “Mi BaHoser” and as soon as we would answer “Haman” the kid with the toy would smack the nail hard on the concrete floor. An explosion would surely sound. As you know, the whole idea of making noise on Purim has to do with the “Megillah” - scroll, the story of queen Ester. When we read the name of Haman, we drowned his name with noise. “Mi BaHoser” was heavily Yemenite accented line from the scroll of Ester when the King asked his servants “who is in the yard” Mee BaHatzer” or as the Yemenite would pronounce it “Mi BaHoser” when we answered “Haman” you should make noise, and what’s better than an explosion?

The other version of this toy required a brave venture to your house and steal the drawer's or closet key. You see, the key had a hole already in the tip. It fits exactly to the large nail. We would attach the nail to a metal string and the other end to loop of the key. Fold the wire in the middle and when time comes, we would smack the key while holding the wire from a distance. “Mi BaHoser” became the name of this dangerous toy. We played with them for a few years until it was banned, and people were arrested or paid high fine for playing with it. Some kids like most typical kids were trying to make bigger and bigger noise by stuffing more match powder in the hole. And more than a few times the toy just exploded and hurt the kids. 

“Mi BaHoser?” Boom!

 

 

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Orellette

 

D’bla (Orellette) is a Tunisian fried thin strip of dough dipped in syrup. We usually serve it on Purim. Unlike the “Homen Tashen – Oznei Haman Haman’s ears” these actually look like ears.

Ingredients:

   For the dough

2 Cups Flour

1 Egg

2 TBSP Vegetable Oil

2 TBSP water

2 TBSP Lemon Juice (Orange Juice or 1 tsp Rose Water)

1/8 tsp Salt 

Oil for Frying

 

  For the syrup

8 oz. Honey

¼ Cup Lemon

1 tsp Oran Zest

Directions: 

  Mix the flour, water, egg, oil, lemon juice, orange or rose blossom water, and salt and knead until obtaining a smooth and homogeneous dough.

If the dough is sticky, add a little flour and if, on the contrary, it is hard, add a little water.

Divide the dough into 2 pieces of equal size. Cover each piece with plastic wrap and let them rest for 45 minutes in a cool place (not in the fridge). This stage allows the dough to become less elastic so it will be easier to roll.

  Sprinkle the work surface with cornstarch and, using a rolling pin, roll the first dough to about 1/16-inch thickness.

  Using a serrated cutter, or pizza cutter cut strips of dough, about 2 inches wide and 10 inches long.

  Repeat the operation with the remaining 2 pieces of dough.

  Place the strips of dough as you make them, on a dry cloth sprinkled with cornstarch and cover them so that they do not dry.

  Heat a large pot with vegetable oil to 350F over medium heat.

 Take a strip of dough and shake it gently to get rid of the cornstarch.

    Using a fork, prick the end of the dough strip while holding the other end with the other hand. Dip the part held by the fork for a few seconds in the oil then roll the dough quickly around the fork.

  Carefully remove the fork, and flip with the fork.

  When it is golden brown, take the strip out of the oil and place in a colander.

Syrup:

  In a non-stick saucepan, combine the honey, lemon juice, orange blossom water (or ½ tsp rose water) and bring to a boil.

  Turn off the heat and soak the orellette (when they ate still hot) in the hot syrup.

  Move them to a plate or baking parchment. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or ground pistachios.

 

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