"Goat and shriveled up black lemons. It's what's for dinner."

So said Amy on her Facebook page. And it is what's for dinner today. See, awhile back a friend of mine (who's great Thai Drunken Noodle recipe will be featured here in the coming months) told me about a fantastic soup he'd had at a local Persian restaurant. Said it was made with dried limes. The gears in my head started whizzing, one thing led to another, and now I've got me some dried lemons (or limes, I'm not sure which; I've read that even though they're sometimes labeled as lemons, they're actually limes) and some goat, and I'll be whipping up my own version of a Persian stew.




Omani/Dried lemons


They weigh next to nothing. My understanding is that they're made by first boiling the limes in salt water and then putting them out in the sun to dry. Needless to say, I probably won't be trying a homemade version of these, especially since they're so cheap- around $5-6/lb. The tan colored ones are about the size of a nutmeg; the black ones are slightly larger. The tan ones smell, as you'd imagine, citrus-y. Lemon-y. The black ones have a similar citrus-y smell, but much more of a deep, robust background, almost raisin-y. I had planned on using the black ones originally, but after my first taste of goat today (seared in a hot skillet with a pinch of salt; it tastes somewhat similar to beef to me, but lighter and with a subtler flavor. Also tougher.) I think I'm going with the lighter-colored ones. Being that I've never even had Persian (Iranian) food before, this ought to be interesting. I'm planning an update sometime next week (hopefully with an actual recipe, or something like one).