Amba
A sauce that, by most accounts, Baghdadi Jewish traders brought to Iraq from India, and that Iraqi families later carried on to Israel, where it became a popular partner for falafel and sabich. It is not a chutney: the mango is first fermented in salt for three days and only then cooked with spices. The fermentation and the fenugreek give amba its characteristic, intense sour-and-spice smell, which can be startling when you first open the jar.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Salting 4320 min
- Spices 15 min
- Cooking 25 min
- Maturing 1440 min
Step by step
0 / 7 donePeel the mangoes and dice them
Peel hard green mangoes and cut the flesh into 2 cm cubes. The fruit must be entirely unripe: ripe mango collapses in salt and after three days becomes an unsalvageable pulp.
Ingredients: 1000 g green mangoes · 60 g salt · 1 tsp turmeric
Bury in salt and turmeric for three days
Toss the cubes with the salt and a teaspoon of turmeric, transfer to a jar, cover with a cloth and leave somewhere warm for 3 days, stirring once a day with a clean spoon. The mango releases juice and starts smelling sour — that is the fermentation, as it should be.
Ingredients: 1000 g green mangoes · 60 g salt · 1 tsp turmeric
Juice draws out, the smell turns sour — fermentation is working.Toast the fenugreek very carefully
Toast the fenugreek and mustard seeds in a dry pan for 90 seconds only, to fragrance. Fenugreek is treacherous: over-toasted it turns as bitter as quinine and ruins the whole jar. Grind both in a mortar.
Ingredients: 2 tbsp fenugreek · 1 tbsp mustard seeds · 2 tbsp turmeric · 1 tsp cumin · 2 tsp chilli flakes · 6 cloves garlic · 120 ml oil
Fry the spices in oil
Heat the oil in a wide pan, add the chopped garlic, then after a moment the ground fenugreek and mustard, the cumin, chilli and 2 tbsp turmeric. Fry 2 minutes over low heat, until the oil turns deep yellow. Spices give up their aroma most fully in fat — added straight to the liquid they taste raw.
Ingredients: 2 tbsp fenugreek · 1 tbsp mustard seeds · 2 tbsp turmeric · 1 tsp cumin · 2 tsp chilli flakes · 6 cloves garlic · 120 ml oil
Deep yellow oil — the spices have given their aroma.Add the mango with its juices and simmer
Add the salted mango together with all the liquid it has released, plus the vinegar, water and sugar, and simmer gently for 20–25 minutes, until the cubes soften and partly break down. That fermenting juice is the most valuable part — never pour it away.
Ingredients: 150 ml vinegar · 200 ml water · 3 tbsp sugar · 1 pcs lemon
Cubes soft and partly collapsed — not smooth.Keep the pieces, do not blend smooth
Crush some of the cubes with a spoon but leave clear pieces of mango. Amba is not a smooth sauce — it should have texture. Season with lemon juice and taste: it should be sour, salty and only faintly sweet.
Ingredients: 150 ml vinegar · 200 ml water · 3 tbsp sugar · 1 pcs lemon
Jar it and wait a day
Transfer to a sterilised jar and wait at least a day before using. Freshly cooked amba tastes harsh and unsettled; after a day the spices come together. In the fridge it keeps three months.
Ingredients: 150 ml vinegar · 200 ml water · 3 tbsp sugar · 1 pcs lemon
Before you start
The smell is part of the recipe
Amba smells very intense and can surprise you on first opening the jar. That is normal and comes from the fenugreek and the fermentation. The same smell fills Israeli falafel stands — a signature rather than a sign of spoilage. Spoilage shows as mould or a film on top, not as the smell of spices.
The shortcut with ready mango
Indian grocers sell jars of salted mango in spiced oil (mango pickle). It can be rinsed of its oil and used in place of your own fermentation — you save three days of waiting but lose some control over the salting and flavour.
What to use it for
With falafel, sabich, shawarma, eggs, grilled vegetables and fish. In Israel many falafel stands keep it beside tahini and zhoug — those three sauces together make the classic set.