VeganMoFo: Persian Powdered Omani Limes

Today's spice is Dried Persian Lime Powder (aka Powdered Omani Limes). It's a dark, coursely-textured powder made from limes that are dried whole and then ground to little bits! The texture looks sort of like ground-up coffee beans. Persian food is famous for its love of complex flavor combinations, and they especially love to have a little hit of something tart in many dishes. Enter the powdered limes. The taste of the powder, all on its own, was a little bit familiar and little bit unfamiliar. Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats described it as "like lemon plus tobacco," and that seemed pretty right on. Definitely lemony, but darker, a bit toasted... a little bitter. Interesting!

For my dish featuring powdered limes, I made Persian Polow with Green Beans and Tomatoes from Silk Road Cooking. This made a ton of food. Mr. VE&T and I are both pretty piggy, and this was easily 3 nights worth of food... or at least it would have been if Mr. VE&T had liked it. Personally, I liked it quite a bit. I loved the rich flavors in the rice with the crisp little pieces of green beans in there, and the powdered limes were definitely present in the final dish. The rice had a bit of a tartness, which I thought sharpened the other flavors very nicely. Mr. VE&T wasn't feeling adventurous, so he said he didn't like it. Also, though, he had just eaten an entire box of Barbara's Puffins while waiting for me to make dinner. Just straight out the box, folks. So, I suspect that might be why he wasn't that into the rice, because - really now - it was good!