Lime Sparkle -- Afghanistan, Sort Of

Afghanistan week is still going strong -- tonight's Chicken Lawang (recipe and photos to follow) was especially good. We're talking plate-lickingly good. There was just one thing -- it was very deeply flavored, and as such, a little heavy. I made this to complement it.

To be fair, this is not an authentic recipe -- it's merely a simple syrup made with fresh limes, mixed with cold soda water. Still, limes exist in Afghan cooking, and I thought I'd expand. I have it on good authority from some people who are apparently really into cans that Afghanistan has some kind of lime soda, so there.

This is a recipe with no waste, and not by coincidence. If you buy two limes and 2 liters of soda water, you will use all the lime up exactly.

Simple Lime Sparkle

Peels from 2 fresh limes, in largish strips, not chopped
Juice from 1 1/2 limes
250 g water
150ish g sugar
1/2 lime, sliced
cold soda water

1. Heating the water, blanch the lime peel, just until vivid green. Do not allow the peels to turn olive-colored.

2. When the peels have brightened and softened slightly, remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and turn off the heat.

3. Add the sugar, stirring until combined. Try not to turn the heat back on, as the lime oil the peel has infused into the water will turn bitter. (Citrus tends to become bitter if heated for too long.) Don't worry too much. Just don't start boiling the stuff.

4. As the mixture is cooling down (about enough that you can touch it without discomfort), add the lime juice and stir it evenly into the mixture.

5. Pour this syrup into a bottle for easy use.

6. To make the soda, combine the syrup with cold soda water. Feel free to judge how much you want for yourself, but for a light, refreshing drink, the ratio is best at 1 part syrup to 4 or 5 parts soda water, though your mileage may vary. Taste it until it's nice for you. For a heavier drink, simply add more syrup. Garnish with a fresh slice of lime, and ideally, let it sit for a minute until you can taste the juice from that, too.

A Canadian friend I regularly use as a food guinea pig and I sat around at the table, sipping glass after glass of these, until we realized we'd gone through almost all of the syrup. I suppose you could do worse, as far as soda goes.