RECIPE - The world's oldest bread, and Jacob's Stew
25 years ago I set out to walk across the Sinai Desert alone, on what I supposed to be the route of the Exodus. After a week I found a natural spring so, with plenty of water to drink, I sat under a rock and began to read the Old Testament for the first time.
I sat under that rock for 2 days, reading within this great, silent, mountainous desert. At one point I looked up and saw a blazing orange ball moving across the late afternoon sky. For 15 seconds I looked at it without knowing what it was, just marvelling, awestruck, before my modern mind kicked in and I understood that it was the sun reflecting off the tail of the twice weekly Easyjet flight to Sharm el Sheik. I put myself in the shoes of an ancient shepherd. Looking up, seeing a meteor flashing by and just witnessing the wonder of it.
But they didn’t do that. They didn’t just sit in wonder. They had to turn that into something. They saw the meteor, or the moon, or saw, heard or felt moved by some other wonderful sight, and they started to build altars, and sacrifice things, and load all sort of meaning onto the world instead of just being in it. They didn’t understand that the moment you interpret wonder you lose it. How could they? We can’t blame them. But we can learn from them.
The French philosopher Pascal said our troubles stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room. I’d take it further (and perhaps this illustrates what I highlight, the problematic human urge to take it further) and say our troubles stem from our inability to quietly witness the wonder of the world, and each other.
This bread recipe is based on what is said to be the world’s oldest recipe, according to a research team at the University of Wales Institute. It’s said to be 8,000 years old and it’s originally for a nettle pudding that would’ve been cooked, it seems, within a piece of cloth, much like a steamed pease pudding. I’ve made it more like a flat bread, and it goes well with the recipe below for Jacobs Stew.
Ingredients
2 cups flour.1 tsp each of salt, chives, and baking powder.
1 cup chopped, wilted, spinach (or nettles), or a 300gm pack of frozen spinach.
Method
Chop the salad finely and mix in the other ingredients. Add enough water to bind it all together. It’ll be a little stickier than regular modern bread but if you oil your hands before kneading it won’t stick to you. Knead for just a minute. Baking powder works better if you don’t knead it too much.Squash the dough out so that it’s about 1½ cm thick. Then either fry in a little oil, or bake it at 350F until it’s brown and sounds hollow on the bottom when tapped (it’ll likely take about 25 minutes).
Jacob's Stew
This red lentil soup recipe is based on 3 antique sources.The first was a Mesopotamian recipe tablet dated 1730BC that is now held at Yale University.
The second was a soup served at the funerary feast of King Midas of Phrygia in about 740 BC. We know what was in the soup because the ingredients were chemically determined to be present in pots found at the Midas Mound in Gordion, Turkey.
The third source was the Bible, Genesis 25:29-34. “And Jacob cooked soup. And Esau came from the field and was tired. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please pour me some of this red stuff, because I am tired...And Jacob said, “Sell me your firstborn right, today!...And he swore to him. And Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil soup. And he ate, and he drank. And Esau forsook his firstborn right.”
Coupled with the bread this is a fantastic meal; historically interesting, tasty, and super nutritious and healthy. And nobody has to sell their firstborn right for it either, which is nice.
Ingredients
1 chopped onion.1 tsp each of cumin, thyme, decaf coffee granules, and salt.
2 minced garlic cloves.
2 cups TVP chunks.
1 cup red lentils.
3 cups fresh red beets, peeled and diced.
1 cup chopped rocket, or dandelion leaves.
1 chopped leek.
½ cup each of chopped fresh cilantro, and green onions.
¼ cup each of pomegranate molasses, and red wine vinegar.
Method
Boil the beets until soft, then blend along with their cooking water until smooth.Saute onion until it is almost transparent, then stir in the spices and garlic. Add the TVP and lentils, stir well, then add enough water to cover, and the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour.
The lentils and TVP will suck up some moisture as they cook so add more water if you need to.
Garnish with 2 teaspoons of pumpkin seeds, or sunflower or sesame, ½ cup finely chopped cilantro, and ½ cup of finely chopped leek.
