Lime Pomegranate Chicken Wings

Amarante

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 10:50 am

An imamother who knows her Sephardic style cooking was helpful to me recently by explaining dried limes and lime powder so I wanted to test the waters to expand my horizons. I got some lime powder and then found a recipe that looked as if my culinary guinea pigs Very Happy

would like and so I made this recipe.

It was very good and easy to make. I did substitute those little drumsticks instead of wings because I don't particularly like wings as they are just skin and gristle.

Pomegranate molasses I already had in my pantry. It is really just pomegranate juice boiled down so that it is thick so you could make your own but it's an easy ingredient to get in almost any grocery store.

ETA - I didn't prep exactly as written. I coated the chicken with the juice and zest. I had put the mixture of spices in a large plastic bag so I put the chicken into the bag and mooshed it around to coat. I put the bag of chicken in the refrigerator to marinated and when I was ready to cook I put the chicken on the pan. It seemed easier to prep my way since there was no reason to prep ON the pan and then put the pan in the refrigerator. Also easier to coat the chicken when it is in a bag. You could use a bowl as well and put the bowl in the refrigerator.

Also if I make it again, I might make a bit more of the spice mixture as it seemed scanty. But that might because I subbed the drummettes for the wings.

Lime Pomegranate Chicken Wings

Excerpt From: Molly Mills - Sababa Secrets and Israel's Best Recipes: Recipe Excerpts from the Sababa Cookbook and More

Lime-y and nutty, this delicious dish highlights all the strengths of a delicious chicken wings recipe, plus more. This dish mainly features dried Persian limes, which are traditionally added to soups and stews. This time, though, they were used as a dry rub to offer a nice balance to the chicken wings. To finish off, some pomegranate molasses are brushed through the wings to provide a beautiful, and yes, tasty gloss.

Serving Size: 6

Prep Time: 3 hrs. 15 mins

Ingredients:

2 lb. chicken wings - I subbed those small drumsticks
2 tbsp Persian lime powder
1/3 cup pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp scallion greens, chopped
1 tbsp pomegranate seeds
Juice and zest of 1 pc lime
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp ground turmeric
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. First, prepare a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Put a rack on top and lightly brush with oil.

2. Meanwhile, combine chicken wings, lime juice, plus zest in a large bowl.

3. Arrange the wings onto the prepared baking sheet, skinny side up.

4. In a small bowl, combine Persian lime powder, turmeric, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, salt and pepper.

5. Rub the combined spices onto the wings. Let the chicken wings marinade for an hour or two in the refrigerator.

6. Next, when ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

7. Place the rimmed baking sheet into the oven and let it bake for about 40 minutes.

8. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and brush the chicken wings with pomegranate molasses on both sides generously.

9. Return to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes until caramelized.

10. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper, together with scallions and pomegranate seeds prior to serving.

Last edited by Amarante on Thu, Oct 15 2020, 3:08 pm; edited 2 times in total

cbsp

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 11:23 am

Oooh, where does one purchase lime powder?

Is there also a lemon powder product? Sumac doesn't always agree with me...

avrahamama

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 11:28 am

This looks delicious and manageable for me to make while babies cling to my skirt! Gonna give it a shot for Shabbat. Think it will hold well?

Amarante

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 11:34 am

It is widely available on the internet if you don't have an ethnic supermarket near you. I would assume that any grocery store near a Sephardic community would have it.

I don't understand the mention of sumac. There is no sumac in the recipe. The dried lime powder is made of only Persian Limes.

I don't know how long you plan to keep the recipe. Most dark meat chicken is pretty good at room temperature. I find that breast meat is less forgiving unless you use it in a sauce or make a salad to moisten it or use for sandwiches.

cbsp

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 11:38 am

Amarante wrote:

I don't understand the mention of sumac. There is no sumac in the recipe. The dried lime powder is made of only Persian Limes.

Yes, I know there was no sumac in this recipe. Since I never heard of lime powder before I was asking about the existence of lemon powder. In the past when I've asked whether lemon powder exists I was told to try sumac. So I was heading that suggestion off at the pass.

Amarante

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 11:48 am

cbsp wrote:

I googled lemon powder and there are many options including making your own. I’ve never seen a recipe using lemon powder though. Lime powder is a specific Sephardi ingredient using Persian limes. There are recipes using dried limes. I am not an expert on Sephardic cooking so perhaps a Sephardic imamother will pop in and offer more of an explanation. Smile

avrahamama

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 11:55 am

lol I'm not an expert on sephardic cooking either. But I can help you with Persian and Iraqi cooking. Dried limes are called limu omani and they are small dried persian limes. You can use them in soups and stews whole or certain dishes ground. They're bright, tangy, slightly bitter, earthy. Delicious. As a child I would pick them out of stews and eat them instead of the stew.

https://www.seriouseats.com/20......html

If you're in NYC you can find it at one of the smaller israeli style makolets. Or sephardic markets. They have all the good stuff. I once need masteki and could only find it at zions makolet right by KRM.

If you're not in NYC you can try a more middle eastern based market (arab, pakistani stores) or just buy online.

But going into a proper spice shop is too much fun to pass on.

avrahamama

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 12:00 pm

Amarante wrote:

If you liked limoo omani you should try cooking with ghooreh (unripened green groups, sour lip puckering gems)

http://www.mypersiankitchen.co.....rape/

I make an eggplant chicken stew with this. Is just so good. Over Sukkot I used lamb instead of chicken it was excellent.

Amarante

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 12:00 pm

avrahamama wrote:

Not quite the same thing but my Bubbe would save the little unhatched eggs when she made chicken soup and give them to me instead of any of the other grandchildren. Very Happy

cbsp

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 1:47 pm

avrahamama wrote:

I live in Passaic, NJ.

The Seasons in Clifton stocks certain Pereg spices, I guess I'll start there. Not sure I'm up for an adventure in the other areas of Clifton or Paterson.

cbsp

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 1:53 pm

This was an interesting read

https://www.bonappetit.com/peo.....limes

Amarante

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 1:58 pm

I am admittedly not an expert on Sephardic cooking but I assumed that it was the umbrella which covered all the North African and Middle Eastern cuisines in the same way as Ashkenazi style described all the variants of Eastern European cuisine.

Is Persian and Iraqi not Sephardic or were you being modest in terms of limiting your expertise to specific countries. When I read cookbooks, there are great variations in Sephardic dishes depending on country. They do seem much more diverse than Ashkenazi cuisine is e.g. there are differences between sweet and savory gefilte fish depending on geography but it’s still recognized as gefilte fish versus some dishes in the Sephardi repertoire which seem to be unique to a more specific country.

Last edited by Amarante on Thu, Oct 15 2020, 2:17 pm; edited 1 time in total

Amarante

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 2:02 pm

cbsp wrote:

This was an interesting read

https://www.bonappetit.com/peo.....limes

Ottolenghi has some great recipes. I have a few of his cookbooks. The most famous is Jerusalem.

avrahamama

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 2:18 pm

Amarante wrote:

I am admittedly not an expert on Sephardic cooking but I assumed that it was the umbrella which covered all the North African and Middle Eastern cuisines in the same way as Ashkenazi style described all the variants of Eastern European cuisine.

Is Persian and Iraqi not Sephardic or were you being modest in terms of limiting your expertise to specific countries. When I read cookbooks, there are great variations in Sephardic dishes depending on country. They do seem much more diverse than Ashkenazi cuisine is e.g. there are differences between sweet gefilte fish depending on geography but it’s still recognized as gefilte fish versus some dishes in the Sephardi repertoire which seem to be unique to a more specific country.

The differences are many. North african is different from persian/ iraqi is different from turkish/greek is different from yemenite. certain minhagim. I am ok with being bundled into the umbrella of sephardic but technically I'd be considered Mizrachi and not Sephardi (although my turkish stepfather broadened those horizons for me). But there's more differences among sephardim than there are in the Ashkenazi world.

icedcoffee

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 4:52 pm

I love this! I literally just bought a whole bag of limon omani for stews so I'll definitely try this! I'm making a Persian chicken soup tonight for shabbat and one of the limon omanis is going straight in there Wink

Amarante

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 5:07 pm

avrahamama wrote:

Completely off topic but I read Isaac Mizhrahi's autobiography and it was a hoot. His family was a member of the Brooklyn Syrian community and to say he was a fish out of water is to understate it. LOL

Interesting from a historic/anthropologic view in terms of the diversity among the Sephardic "umbrella" versus the more or less homogeneity of the Ashkenazi.

Eastern European cuisine is less diverse than Middle Eastern/Mediterranean/Northern African - e.g. Polish and Russian cooking is very similar as opposed to Greek versus Moroccan (for example).

And of course, Eastern Europe is not considered to be the source of haute cuisine in the same way that France, Italy, China are considered to be. And Mediterranean has become wildly popular in the last few decades for a variety of reasons - health, taste etc. Eastern European cuisine doesn't get much respect in the culinary world - not many restaurants, cookbooks and one doesn't see innovators attempting to update it or do fusion - no Russian/Mexican taco trucks the way that Korean/Mexican taco trucks took off for example. LOL

avrahamama

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 5:38 pm

Amarante wrote:

And of course, Eastern Europe is not considered to be the source of haute cuisine in the same way that France, Italy, China are considered to be. And Mediterranean has become wildly popular in the last few decades for a variety of reasons - health, taste etc. Eastern European cuisine doesn't get much respect in the culinary world - not many restaurants, cookbooks and one doesn't see innovators attempting to update it or do fusion - no Russian/Mexican taco trucks the way that Korean/Mexican taco trucks took off for example. LOL

Interesting to me because korean and russian fusion would be .... Bucharian! A lot of bucharian food is influenced by asian food ...

Let's think how can we fuse ashkenazi and mexican ... Taquitos rolled with kishka and deep fried! Poblanos relleno using kishka? Fried kreplach with pico de gallo

Posole with matzah ball dumplings. Mexican spiced cholent. Salmon ceviche using dill and cucumber salad hold the mayo.

Yapchik with ropa vieja (cuban?)

avrahamama

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 5:47 pm

I had a friend who was kafkazi and it was delicious. I loved it all even the herring salad.

And in college when I was secular. I ate my korean dorm mates care packages. My goodness. Korean rice with all the little side salads... With I could get my hands on fermented black bean salad and really good chilli sauce.

Amarante

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 7:21 pm

Oh banchan. Like dim sum, they aren’t hard to make based in my cookbooks but their appeal is the diversity so it’s pretty hard for a hime cook to really duplicate.

Is posole kosher? I’ve wondered when I’ve looked at recipes because I Think I read that the preparation of the hominy requires lye.

Judging by some of the awful kosher Mexican and Chinese food I’ve been served, I suspect that Ashkenazi is already fused with Mexican and Chinese. LOL

What is served in the US for the most part is more accurately Tex-Mex but the food in the cookbooks I have is different and not so reliant in vast quantities of cheese melted as the default. LOL

avrahamama

Thu, Oct 15 2020, 9:36 pm

Her mother sent her 4-5 banchan. Salty and tangy and spicy. So good.

My friend used to hire her mexican cleaning lady to cook for her. It was a separate job. She would in the kitchen with her. Turning on the stove and supervising and learning. It was delicious.