Gideon’s Meal on the Rock
From Judges 6
Flat Bread, Goat Roast, Goat curry, Puffed bread, Yogurt Sauce
Gideon’s Meal on the Rock served in two ways- Dinner and Appetizer
Biography:
Name: Gideon, meaning 'Cutter' or 'the one who cuts down'
Other Names: Jerubbaal, meaning 'Let Baal contend against him'
Father's Name: Joash
Family: Abiezrite, one of the ten clans from the tribe of Manasseh
Occupation : Fifth judge of Israel after Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar and Deborah
Family occupation: Farmer
Accomplishments: Defeated an army of 120,000+ Midianites with only 300 people, stood against pagan worship and destroyed their shrines, though provided with the opportunity of becoming a king he refused and stayed a judge, ruled Israel peacefully for 40 years, had 72 sons, was a faithful servant of God, mighty warrior - a Hero!
This is quite a resume, don't you think? Gideon without dispute is a deliverer for Israel in the Bible. But how did that come about?
Was he from an influential tribe? Always been strong and brave even since he was a child? Full of faith? What is the magic potion then? Let's see just that.
This was the time where Israel was under God's punishment for 7 years as they did evil in the eyes of the Lord. The Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern countries invaded, looted and ravaged Israel left and right. The Midianites especially impoverished them, so much that they cried out to the Lord for help.
Gideon didn't belong to a distinguished family, his clan was the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh and he was the lowest ranking in his family. When the scene opens, Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress. Why? To keep it from the Midianites. All his hard work for the season would be looted if the Midianites got there so this had to be done in secret.
While he was still carrying out this secret mission, the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said "THE LORD IS WITH YOU, MIGHTY WARRIOR.” I mean, really? If I was Gideon I would have thought that the angel was mocking me. Gideon had some similar thoughts as well.
But the next 4 verses are some of my favorites in the Bible.
Judges 6: 13-16 says,
13.“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14.The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15.“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16. The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
If these four verses don't describe the abundance of God's grace for us then what does! Gideon was not a man full of confidence or faith or might, he was just a man with a defeated spirit who struggled to make sense of God's work in his life; just like you and me in many ways. Is there anyone among us who has not felt this way one time or the other?
Questions like,
Why God, why?
Why me, and why now?
Have you abandoned me, Lord?
Did I do something wrong?
Is this my life now Lord?
Gideon seems to be in a similar spot in his life. But unlike our life story, we have a birds eye view for Gideon's story. First of all, the encounter with the angel turned out to be an encounter with the Lord himself. He is not talking to an angel anymore, he is talking to God. And it becomes apparent that though Gideon might have thought himself as a lowly person, least in the family and weak in his mortal eyes, he was a MIGHTY WARRIOR, A DELIVERER AND A JUDGE in God's eyes.
It might be hard for us to comprehend who we are in the eyes of the Lord, but the weak will be made strong when we have Him with us.
That is precisely what the Lord told Gideon, 'I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites...' While Gideon was comprehending how in his lowly state he would conquer Midian, he forgot that it is not him, it is the Lord who is going to work through him. With Lord's help, he is not going to strike down SOME of the Midianites, but ALL.
Who is your Midian today?
Have you accepted your circumstances and started navigating in the best way you can possibly fathom? Is this your life now? Absolutely not!
Who are we? We are the children of the one and only King of all creation. He loves us so much that He gave His one and only begotten Son to die for us on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven. He even gave us the Holy Spirit to be with us as our counsellor and comforter. When we believe in this fact we become a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. (1 Peter 2: 9).
To accept defeat is like renouncing your royalty. Why do it? Let's stop trusting in our plans and thoughts and look to God for His intentions in our lives. When we look to Him, He will make us -measly humans - to do mighty things as well. We don't have to have ANY background in becoming heroes. All we need is the mighty hand of God working through us and in us. He knows our frame and He remembers that we are dust. (Psalms 103:14) Because even after this assurance from God, Gideon will proceed to test God with signs.
He will first ask God to stay for awhile, while he brings him an offering. AND THE LORD WILL WAIT FOR GIDEON.
Judges 6: 19, 20 says,
19. 'Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in the basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
20. The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." and Gideon did so.'
Hint: This is where our recipe for today comes from. Gideon made unleavened bread, placed some goat meat on top and poured the broth over it for the Lord.
Then the angel of the Lord touched the offering with the tip of the staff and fire flared from the rock, consuming the offering and the angel disappeared.
This is where, through faith, Gideon will turn into a hero. He will realize who he is in the eyes of the Lord and he will submit himself to be a tool in the hands of the Lord. Though he will ask for two more signs, God through his abounding mercy and patience will fulfill those signs, Gideon, the now faith-filled hero, will cut down the shrines of the pagan gods and gather an army of 33,000 men to defeat the Midians. But God reduced that number to just 300 men and defeated the entire army of Midianites, more than 120,000 of them. By this, Israel knew that it was not by their might or power, but by God they have been delivered.
Israel later wanted Gideon to rule over them because of these heroic acts, but Gideon knew that it was purely God's strength, so he refused to be a king and would remain a judge and rule Israel in peace for the next 40 years. Gideon, son of Joash, died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
We will end this story here today but keep reading the latter part of Judges 8 and then chapters 9 and 10 for some interesting details of the aftermath of what seems to be a fairytale ending.
This is what I love about the Bible: it documents people as just ordinary people and not super heroes.
When you make this recipe, meditate on how you can have faith in God to work in mighty ways in your life and turn plain humans into mighty heroes.
On to our Recipe now,
Ok, what do we have here? Gideon made unleavened bread, cooked some goat meat and placed them on the rock and poured the broth over it. So we have three components here- unleavened bread, meat and broth.
Gideon's Meal on the Rock can be served in two ways, as a dinner and as an appetizer. Although the dishes are almost the same, the way we serve is going to make them two very distinct dishes.
Flatbread - Goat roast - Goat curry as a dinner version
Puffed bread - Goat roast - Goat curry - yogurt sauce as a appetizer version
First let us look at the common dishes - Goat roast and Goat curry.
Goat roast recipe:
Goat Roast
Ingredients:
2 lbs of boneless goat or lamb meat ( you can also use beef meat)
1 medium sized onions
1 Tbsp. of tomato paste or 1 finely chopped tomato
1 tsp.crushed ginger
1 tsp.crushed garlic
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp. yogurt
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. chilli powder or paprika
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
2 bay leaves
1 small cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp. salt + more if needed
1/2 tsp. pepper powder
1/2 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. ghee
Method:
1. Wash the meat and cut it into small bite size pieces. Add 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder, 1 Tbsp. of yogurt, 1 tsp. of chili powder, 2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick and marinate it for 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.
2. Pressure cook the meat with 1/2 cup of water for 5 whistles or cook it in a closed lid pot for 30 minutes, until tender.
3. Heat a wide pan, add in 2 Tbsp. of coconut oil. Once heated, add finely chopped onions, crushed garlic and ginger and saute it well till it turns light brown.
4. Add in 1 Tbsp. of tomato paste and sauce it well again for 2 minutes. Now add in the meat with the broth and mix everything well.
5. Add 1/2 tsp. of pepper powder and cumin powder. and check for salt at this stage. if needed, add more.
6. Let everything come to a rapid boil and let it cook in a medium flame until it becomes a dry roast.
7. Switch off the flame and sprinkle some chopped up cilantro leaves and a tsp. of ghee and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Goat Curry recipe:
Goat Curry
Ingredients
1 lb of goat or lamb bones ( you can also use beef bones)
2 medium sized onions
1 large tomato
1 whole garlic plus 3 cloves
I inch fresh ginger
1 bunch cilantro
5 Tbsp. of vegetable oil
1 tsp. chilli powder or paprika
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
2 bay leaves
1 small cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 /2 tsp. of whole cumin seeds, fennel seeds, peppercorn
10 roasted cashews or almonds
2 Tbsp. coconut powder
Method:
1. Pressure cook the bones with 4 cups of water, 1/2 tsp. of salt, 1/2 tsp. of chili powder, 1/4 tsp. of turmeric, 1 whole onion and one whole garlic, 2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cloves and 1/2 a bunch of roughly chopped cilantro for 10 whistles.
2. If you don't have a pressure cooker use a stock pot. Add the above ingredients and bring it to a rapid boil. Let it boil for 10 minutes and then bring it to a simmer and let it sit with the lid closed for 1 hr or until the stock gets golden brown.
3. In a separate pan, add 2 Tbsp. of oil and 1/2 tsp. of cumin, 1/2 tsp. of fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp of pepper corns, 1 roughly chopped onion, 3 garlic cloves, 1 inch ginger piece without skin, 1/2 cup cilantro, 10 roasted cashews or almonds , 1 roughly chopped tomato and 1/2 tsp. salt, chili powder and 1/4 tsp. turmeric. Sauté everything till the onions get light brown and transfer it to the blender once it is cooled down. Add 2 Tbsp. of coconut powder with this mixture and blend everything to a fine paste.
4. Filter out the stock and keep the broth.In a hot pan add 3 Tbsp. of oil and add the blended mixture in the oil and let it cook for 2 minutes.Now add the broth in the pan and let it all cook in a medium flame for 15 minutes. Check for salt, add more if needed.
5. The curry is ready. Serve hot.
For the dinner version: Wheat flat bread Recipe
Flat Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. of vegetable oil
1/2 cup +1/4 cup warm water + more if needed
1 Tbsp. butter
Method:
1. Combine the Flour, salt and oil and mix well.
2. Add 1/2 cup of warm water into this mixture and mix well, use 1/4 more cup if needed. knead well and the dough should be soft. it shouldn't be dry or sticky,
3. Let it rest for 20 minutes.
4. Make Lime sized dough balls and use a rolling pin, roll it out .
5. Heat the pan and let it cook. It will puff up, forming a pocket in the middle. Flip it once, allowing the other side to cook.
6. Once done, Spread some butter on top and serve hot.
For the appetizer version: Yogurt sauce Recipe
Ingredients :
1/2 cup of plain full fat yogurt
1 small finely chopped onion
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
1/8 tsp. salt
Method:
Mix everything together and store it in the fridge until served.
For the puffed bread - I used ready to fry pani puri pellets from amazon. They will look like small flat discs and in hot oil, fry in small batches. it will puff up in 10 seconds. You can also make these at home, but I found the ready made ones to look more uniform and pretty. It is apt for appetizers.
Puffed Bread
Ways to Serve:
1. For the appetizer version, make small openings on the puffed bread and add some meat , pour 1 Tbsp. of curry and top it off with 1/2 tsp. of yogurt sauce and serve immediately.
2. For the dinner version, Place the bread and spoon a bit of goat meat and pour the curry over everything and serve hot.
Place a scoop of meat onto the bread and pour the broth over it (just like Gideon did) and enjoy it as a dinner.
Place a spoon on meat into the puffed bread and drizzle some curry and yogurt sauce over it and enjoy it as an appetizer.
--
Bindhu Jachin
