Indian Preserved Limes, Preserved Lemons

Several years ago, precious Vanessa and I were at the Dollar Grocery Store. She spotted something, an Indian condiment, a preserved lime. She put a jar in my basket and told me to take it home with me. It took me 6 months to work up the courage to open the jar. I am glad I did. But, it took me a while to build up the courage to try it.

Vanessa is perhaps the most adventurous eater I have ever known. I have her buy stuff in ethnic grocery stores where there was no way to tell from the label if she was buying a dessert or shoe polish. She is good.

I have made batches of both of the pickles below. The Lime pickles recipe is the condiment that Vanessa introduced me to. I now know that it is a standard. It shows up on the side of dishes that I order at Royal Sweets or The Clay Pit. Good stuff. I am going through the Lime recipe fast enough to justify a second batch. It is out on my 2nd floor patio right now. I give it a good shake every day when I am out there watering the plants. It took about 2 weeks in this Texas heat.

To help decode the recipe ingredients, "methi" is another name for fenegreek seeds. "hing" is asafoetida.

Indian Lime Pickles
http://indianfoodrocks.blogspot.com/2006/08/make-lime-pickle-sans-oil-while-sun.html

I am not so certain about the Lemon Pickles. I am waiting for my other BFF Foodie, Jennifer, to get back to town to help me decide what I should do with it. For the short term I think I will try using it under the skin of a chicken being roasted. I know that will work.

Indian Lemon Pickles
http://indianfoodrocks.blogspot.com/2006/05/lemon-pickle-without-oil-picture.html