Thursday, 27 March 2008

Why I love dried limes

Shopping splurge vindicated! Well, almost. I made this fantastic Iranian-style chicken stew last night with half of the fresh herbs and the dried limes I bought. It was loosely based on a recipe in Sally Butcher's Persia in Peckham, the book I told you about yesterday but since I seem to have got fixated on lamb lately I used chicken thighs instead and went off on a tangent from there.

The essential ingredient is dried limes which is one of those addictive ingredients that you can't stop craving once you discover them. They're unprepossessing little brown husks which you pierce then pop in a chicken soup or chicken or lamb stew to release their exotic musky fragrance and sweet-sour lemon flavour.

If you feel a bit nervous about the idea imagine them with handfuls of fresh herbs including stacks of the equally addictive coriander. It's a great dish to serve for adventurous been-everywhere-eaten-everything friends. I've posted the recipe on my student website beyondbakedbeans.com today.

Incidentally, I found a really good guide to Iranian food on the American food website Chow you might enjoy reading here

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