Monday, October 17, 2011

VeganMoFo 17: Whole Dried Limes = Actual Amazeballs

Today's Spice: Whole Dried Persian Limes
(alias White Limes, Persian Lemons, Omani limes, Limu Omani)

Do you remember earlier in MoFo when I made some rice polow with powdered dried Persian limes? Well, I've also got two bags of whole dried limes in my spice drawer. I'm not even sure how on earth I ended up with two bags. The thing is - these guys take up some serious space. They are sort of the size of small ping pong balls. And I haven't had any idea what to do with them. Thank goodness for my MoFo theme!

We were having my parents over for dinner, and I wanted to make them something yummy... so I was scouring the depths of the internet for Dried Lime recipes. Happily I stumbled upon this really wonderful and insightful article about these dried limes and how they are made. My favorite line is when the author describes them as having a "deep layer of culinary funk."

From the same article, I made this Lentil Salad with Dried Lime, which we all absolutely loved. I made a double recipe - and used two limes in the water with the lentils - which I think I was just right for four of us. Somehow cooking the lentils with the dried limes just zaps all the boring dullness out of them. I love lentils as much as the next vegan, but you know what I'm talking about. The salad was light and simple, but very yummy.

I also made the Dried Lime Tea, which was totally great - a big hit with everyone. It's not really tea, it's just dried limes boiled in water, with some sugar added. It's limey, but somehow evocative of much more. And so easy. I even enjoyed adding it to some sparkly water. Next time I make it, I'll cut back the sugar a bit because I don't think it needed to be quite so sweet. I'm so happy I found a quick, easy, and delicious way to use up all my dried limes (though I'm sure now I will just want to buy more!)

18 comments:

  1. Culinary funk made me laugh... I know what the author means but still, mmm mm, funk.

    That lime tea sounds really delightful and refreshing.

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  2. Dammit, Amey! You are making me hoard spices even more than I already do. I'm so intrigued by those crazy limes!

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  3. How absolutely gorgeous, and amazeballs! I am obsessed with sour flavors, and I think I have to try these. My new obsession will then be your fault!

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  4. So cool! The lentils and the tea look delicious, and whoa, those dried limes are pretty neat! I love your MoFo theme, it's so interesting to see all these spices I've never seen or heard of before!

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  5. These sound so interesting! I'm even more intrigued after reading that article. I'd love to try that lentil salad, or the tea!

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  6. Awesome, I've always kinda wondered what those were! The lentil salad looks especially good.

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  7. I've never even heard of this ingredient before but it sounds crazy! Can't wait to get my hands on some.

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  8. I've never seen dried limes but I love the look of the salad and the tea.

    I'm about to do an order online for spices so I'm going to go back through your posts to help me choose what to buy!

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  9. Culinary funk sounds oogy, Amey! But I'm glad you worked through it.

    Have you tried outdoor sports with these at all?

    xo
    kittee

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  10. Are you sure you didn't just find those at the bottom of a drawer in your refrigerator?

    I love lentil salads and this one sounds scrumptious!

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  11. I love dried limes and hunted for them for over a year until I found them (at SeeWoo in Glasgow). I first discovered them from a beautiful Egyptian woman, who had added a dried lime and some other spices (cassia, clove, cardamom, and maybe some cumin seeds) to some oil and pan-fried them with uncooked rice before adding water and cooking everything up.

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  12. It is very health juise

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  13. susan5:45 AM

    My favorites to use them in (and the recipes are totally flat without them) are two persian dishes...ghormeh sabzi (green leaf stew with kidney beans ) and a yellow split pea stew. I make both stews veggie just leave out the meat. Afghani cuisine also used them often.

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  14. I love everything about this post!

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  15. Ooohhh... they look fascinating. I especially like the look of the 'tea'. It's coming in to summer here, so it looks very refreshing.

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  16. Anonymous4:05 PM

    Omg yass totes loved it with the tea great ideaaerzzz much loves 4 the ideaezzz

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