I made it for a dinner party, and it was almost too easy: a mixture of yogurt, lime, and salt. A little olive oil might have been in there, too. And I definitely could have added black pepper, or honey. But what I intuited then—and what I definitely now know for sure—is that this yogurt-lime sauce is pretty perfect even at its simplest. Why tinker?
I found this sauce in theGjelina cookbook, in what has proven to be perhaps that book's most popular recipe. (It's certainly the book's easiest.) In the book, roasted sweet potatoes get drizzled with the lime-yogurt sauce and finished with thinly-sliced green onions. It works because the sauce has a richness to it (thank you, yogurt) that makes whatever it touches feel decadent—a nice touch for a plate of vegetables.
But this sauce can't be kept just for roasted vegetables. No, lime-yogurt sauce is a creamy foil to crunchy, raw vegetables. And you know, now that I think about it, if you thin the sauce out enough—a little water will work—this stuff will morph into a perky salad dressing.
Lime-yogurt sauce is beyond simple to make. Measure out, oy, I don't know, a few heaping, quivering spoonfuls of plain yogurt and slap them into a bowl. Squeeze in the juice of a lime or two,using your hand to catch any rogue seeds. Stir. Taste. Salt. Done.
Too limey? Add more yogurt, or a little honey. Too thick? More lime juice, some olive oil, or some water. Got extra? Save it for tomorrow'sgrain bowl, or serve it with thecrispy chicken thighsyou're going to make later in the week. Or, heck, put the leftover sauce in a cup and put some fruit over it. Because you know when people say "I want to eat that sauce with a spoon"? Well, with this sauce, that's totally acceptable.
