I was so startled to see fresh makrut limes yesterday in a market that I had to pick up a few just to see how they taste fresh. I’ve never found these fresh near me, and even lime leaves require going quite a bit out of the way of my hood to find reliably.
So now what do I do with them?..
I guess adding it to some Thai dish would be the obvious choice, but is there also a particular dish or way to use them would really showcase its unique aroma and fragrance? Also, since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I expect I will not have much spare room in my fridge for the next 3-4 days at least! A large batch of Thai food won’t necessarily work right now, so at minimum I hope this fruit stays fresh in the fridge for a few days.
You could make tuk meric the delicious Cambodian lime and black pepper dipping sauce. One of my favourite things when I was in Cambodia. Great with beef.
That’s a great idea! Now I feel bad that I didn’t splurge and get a pack of those kampot peppercorns from the market. I hope subbing with regular peppercorns work well.
I also love the chili salty dipping sauce they give you for fresh fruit. That stuff made already good fruit just irresistible. Was one of my favorite things about breakfast there.
Just a quick follow up that I ended up using this to make a big batch of Tom Kha Gai. I was blown away by how fragrant these limes were, and it made me fully understand why many insist these can’t really be subbed by regular limes in many recipes. While there are citrus-y notes to this, the big difference is the aroma. It’s a slightly floral, and almost sweet-like scent, and this infuses the soup, or what you’re cooking with. You get this from the leaves too, but the juice and the rind itself feels 100x more intense. It’s a real lovely scent.
Not to turn this into a political post, but it is all thanks to the more experienced and educated members of this and other passionate “foodie” groups that shared the history of the name with me and other novices, so we know. Otherwise, I would be just as oblivious to this as many other first timers who come across this fruit. The other name is even emblazoned on those marketing stickers they put on the fruit.
I’m just wondering @kobuta, if you could make preserved limes out of them, while still maintaining their unique and floral flavor? Same with a marmalade or chutney. I’ll have to look for these.
