Amba Spice

A tangy golden seasoning built on pickled green mango. The flavour is sharply sour first, in the way unripe mango is, then turns warm and slightly sweet, with turmeric colour and a fenugreek bitterness at the back that is unmistakably Iraqi.

Amba is a condiment as much as a spice, and it can be used dry, finely chopped into a relish, or worked into a paste. Its signature is the combination of sweet, sour and spicy notes in a single spoonful.

How to use it

This is the flavour of Iraqi street food: use it on sabich, shawarma and falafel, and on grilled meats, roasted potatoes and fries. In South Asian cooking it accompanies rice dishes, curries and snacks. It also works stirred into marinades, thinned into a dip, or whisked into salad dressings for a sour lift. Technique tip: for the classic amba sauce, stir a tablespoon of the powder into three tablespoons of water with a squeeze of lemon and a little oil, then leave it fifteen minutes for the mango to swell before spooning it over.

Details

Also known as

anba, أمبا سبايس , عنبة , עמבה, Mango pickle, Amba pickles, Amba sauce, Amba chutney, Middle Eastern mango pickle, Pickled mango condiment, Sour mango pickle‎