I first seen finger limes in my Food Network magazine. After reading about them I decided to order some. They are pricey so it will be a one time deal, at least for me. I did share some with a friend too, as there are about 25 finger limes in a package. I ordered mine here if you are interested or just want to learn about them.
When I tasted the finger lime, it wasn’t to much different than a regular lime in my opinion, maybe a bit more tart. The pulp does come out though looking like cavier. The colors range from pale greens to pale pinks. The finger limes I had were all green a.k.a.”lime cavier”. I made a few recipes with the limes but, this one was my favorite. Most of us will not have access to finger limes (or want to pay the high price), so I would just use regular limes with some of the pulp in place of the finger limes.
Finger Lime Chicken with Garlic
6 australian native finger limes
1/4 c. honey
3 small garlic cloves, crushed with a garlic press
1 t. ground coriander
1 t. salt
1/2 t. coarsely ground black pepper
24 medium chicken drumsticks (about 6 lbs.), skin removed (I used chicken tenderloins)
australian native finger limes for garnish (I skipped this step)
1/2 c. loosely packed fresh parsley or cilantro leaves, chopped
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
From the finger limes, grate 2 teaspoons zest and squeeze 1/4 cup juice and pulp (simply cut the finger lime in half and squeeze the caviar like capsules out the cut end). If using regular limes just convert this to lime juice, pulp and zest.
In a small bowl, using a fork, mix honey, garlic, coriander, salt, pepper, finger lime juice and pulp, and 1 teaspoon finger lime zest.
Arrange chicken on two medium baking trays. Drizzle finger lime mixture over chicken; toss to coat evenly. Place pans on 2 oven racks. Bake drumsticks 30-35 minutes, rotating pans between the upper and lower racks halfway through baking and occasionally brushing the chicken with the glaze in the pan, until chicken is cooked through. (If you choose tenderloins like I did, your cooking time is a bit less).
Transfer chicken to a serving dish. Drizzle with pan juices. Garnish with finger lime wedges. Sprinkle with parsley or cilantro and remaining teaspoon of finger lime zest.
So what “odd” ingredients have you cooked with?
twodogsinthekitchen 
I’ve never even heard of finger limes! I can’t think of a weird ingredient lately that I’ve used – mainly because my husband is not as adventerous as I am with new ingredients. It looks delicious though!
You must have missed seeing them in F.N. magazine, it was a few months ago. My hubs is the same way, he did however, try the finger lime margaritas I made 😉
Huh! Never heard of finger limes before, but it’s super cool that you can squeeze the innards out like caviar. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them at the grocery store. Recently I haven’t been cooking with any particularly weird ingredients . . . must remedy that!! =)
I know your a popcorn fan. I squeezed a few of these finger limes onto popcorn and then sprinkled with salt and chili powder…yummy!
Sucker! haha 😉 Sorry they weren’t too much different, I would have been disappointed. I finally found Meyer lemons at our store a couple months ago and snapped some up b/c I’ve heard so much good about them. They’re supposed to be sweeter than regular lemons so you can just eat them like an orange, in fact some people call hem a cross between the two, but mine were jut like normal lemons. They suckered me in! It might be because they picked them way before they were ripe in order to get them to KS without them rotting b/c apparently they spoil fast. So that probably affected the taste and made them more sour. It was a sad day, though. 😉 Your chicken sounds delicious!
Meyer lemons look the same to me, so I wondered about the taste. Not sure if it’s because your’s were picked early or not. Anyways, I won’t be trying them…lol! The finger limes were “cute” and that pulled me in. I’m much more of a sucker for things on pinterest! Ha! 😉
I have to try to find finger limes, the chicken sounds great baked with the lime marinade. I just love a quick and easy recipe. If I can’t find finger limes I will give a try with regular since you couldn’t notice a big difference in taste. Great recipe!
Thanks! It was a winner but, regular limes will definitely do the trick 🙂
I haven’t heard of these, I must not be paying attention to my food network magazine too closely! I haven’t cooked with too many wacky ingredients, lots of game meat would probably be the strangest. I have cooked elk, caribou, bison and ostrich!
Ostrich, now that would be a new one for me!
Never heard of finger limes before but I’ll definitely try the recipe with some regular limes instead…lime is a great and highly underrated seasoning! Sounds like a great combo here with the honey & pepper…yum!
Weird ingredients? Hrm…I use a lot of marinated napolitos – cactus – in salads and tossed in with rice or other veggies like zucchini. Has a nice spicy-tangy taste that blends well with pasta or green bean salads and the like. Also use tomatillos to make sauces & dips with. Don’t know if either one is really weird or more just a regional thing, tho. 😉
I have not even heard of marinated napolitos, I would try it though. Tomatillos just became available here last summer, I’d like to try them in a salsa.
I live in Queensland Brisbane and we have a finger lime tree in our back yard. They are an Australian native and very prickly.
Awesome!
Awesome!!