Ingredients
Mango
- 4large green unripe mangoes, about 1 kg
- 3 tbspsalt
Spices
- 3 tbspground fenugreek
- 2 tbspground turmeric
- 1 tbspground cumin
- 1 tbspmustard seeds, ground
- 1 tbspchilli powder, or to taste
- 6 clovesgarlic, crushed
Also
- 150 mloil
- 150 mlwhite vinegar
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1 tbspsugar
- about 200 ml water
To serve
- with falafel and sabich
- with grilled fish
- with rice and kubba
Directions
- Use hard green mangoes with firm white or pale flesh and no sweetness. Peel them and cut the flesh from the stone in strips or cubes. Cut them into pieces of roughly the same size so they cure evenly.
- Toss the mango pieces with salt and leave them in a colander or a jar for two to three days. Cover it and keep it somewhere cool, and pour off the liquid as it collects. If at any point it smells putrid or mouldy rather than sharply sour, discard it.
- Use scrupulously clean jars and utensils throughout. Rinse the salted mango briefly and drain it thoroughly. Now warm the oil and add the garlic, cooking it gently without letting it colour.
- Add the fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, mustard and chilli. Cook the ground spices for thirty seconds to a minute only, then add liquid immediately. Turmeric and fenugreek both burn very quickly in hot oil and turn irredeemably bitter.
- Simmer it gently for fifteen to twenty minutes until the mango has softened. Some amba is left chunky with recognisable pieces of mango, and some is blended into a smooth pourable sauce. Blend it partly or fully depending on how you want to use it. Add water to thin it to a pourable consistency if you are blending it.
- Taste it: it should be sharply sour, salty, savoury and bitter with a background of heat. It should not be sweet in any obvious way, and the sugar is there only to take the edge off the fenugreek.
- Adjust with more lemon for sourness or more sugar if the bitterness is dominant. Pack it into clean jars and pour a thin layer of oil over the surface. That oil layer keeps air off and helps it keep.
Technique
- It came from Indian achar to Iraq through Basra’s trade with Bombay.
- Iraqi Jewish emigrants carried it to Israel around 1950.
- Fenugreek is used in quantity and is what defines the flavour.
Substitutions
- Ready-made amba, which is widely sold.
- Green papaya if unripe mango cannot be found, though it is not the same.
Variations
- Blended smooth, as at a falafel stand.
- Left chunky, as a pickle.
- Made hotter, with more chilli.
History
Pickled mango condiment adopted from Indian achar through Basra’s trade with Bombay; Iraqi Jews carried it to Israel.
Frequently asked questions
What is Amba?
Amba is a sauce & condiment from Iraq: fenugreek-turmeric pickled mango sauce, Basra’s gift to falafel stands. Pickled mango condiment adopted from Indian achar through Basra’s trade with Bombay; Iraqi Jews carried it to Israel.
How long does Amba take to make?
Amba takes 30 min plus 3 days curing of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 large jar. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Amba?
Yes, within limits. Ready-made amba, which is widely sold. Green papaya if unripe mango cannot be found, though it is not the same.
What is the most important thing to get right in Amba?
Toss the mango pieces with salt and leave them in a colander or a jar for two to three days. Cover it and keep it somewhere cool, and pour off the liquid as it collects. If at any point it smells putrid or mouldy rather than sharply sour, discard it.
