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Try a Rwandan Pancake Day!
How do you celebrate Shrove Tuesday? Do you grab a pan and have a go at flipping those pancakes, hoping they don’t end up on the floor? Do you garnish with lemon and sugar, or smother with indulgent chocolate spread?
This year, Shrove Tuesday falls the day before Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is characterised by love hearts and chocolate, but in Jesus, we discover a love that is far richer than any human offering.
So, why not add some African flavour to Shrove Tuesday by serving these popular Rwandan snacks? Mandazi are similar to doughnuts, and simple enough that you can get the kids to help. Then, together, read our short devotional about Jesus’ love.
Rwandan pancake ingredients
- 1 egg, beaten
- 100g sugar
- 125ml milk
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 2 tsp, baking powder
- 240g white flour
- 125ml cooking oil, plus more as needed
- Powdered sugar for sprinkling (optional)
Rwandan pancake instructions
- Mix together the egg, sugar, milk, butter and baking powder. Slowly mix in the flour, forming a dough that’s soft but not sticky. Add more flour if needed.
- With a rolling pin, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s about ½ inch thick. Let it stand for about 20 minutes, then cut it into 12-15 triangles.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan/skillet. Place the triangles in oil over medium heat and fry until both sides are golden brown. Remove to drain on paper towels.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with coffee.
What this season teaches us about God’s Love
Shrove Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, Lent, Holy Week… this season is a rich mix of sorrow and love.
Lent provides a time of reflection for Christians. It’s an opportunity to examine our hearts and face up to hard truths. The more we recognise the ways we fall short of God’s perfect holiness, the more we rejoice in our Saviour. As Lent leads into Holy week, Christians focus upon Jesus’ death and resurrection with a deepened sense of gratitude.
‘God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us,’ writes Paul in Romans 5:18. This verse reminds us that God is holy, and we are not, but God makes a way for our sin to be dealt with because Jesus was willing to go to the cross. Jesus is our perfect substitute, taking the punishment we rightly deserve.
The joy of the Gospel
This is the grace-filled joy of the Gospel: we don’t have to make ourselves good enough for God. God knows exactly what we’re like, and He meets us where we are.
As humans, it’s easy to hear the whispers of guilt and despair. It’s easy to list our shortcomings or to feel the bitter sting of regret at past mistakes. But Jesus sings us a different song. Jesus tells us he loves us so much that he’s willing to die to save us.
The sweetness of God’s love
Pancake day is a lot of fun. And we hope you’ll particularly enjoy trying our recipe from another country, reminding us that we’re part of God’s worldwide Church of people who’ve come to trust in Jesus. People who’ve begun to ‘grasp how wide and long and wide and deep is the love of Christ.’
In this prayer from Ephesians, Paul goes on to pray that by understanding the extent of God’s love shown through Jesus, believers will be ‘filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.’
So, as we enjoy pancakes and fellowship, let’s be reminded that there’s nothing sweeter than savouring God’s amazing love.
4 mins
