Skip to content
FriendsPantry

Iraqi · Israeli

Amba (Iraqi mango pickle sauce)

Vegetarian

عمبة · ʿamba

Green mango salt-cured for a few days, then cooked with turmeric, fenugreek, mustard seed, chilli, garlic and vinegar and blended into a tangy, bitter-edged, mustard-yellow sauce. The essential drizzle for sabich and Iraqi grilled fish.

Amba (Iraqi mango pickle sauce) is an Iraqi condiment, ready in about 72 hours 45 minutes and made with raw green mango, turmeric and fenugreek. It serves 20 and is rated intermediate to cook.

Start cooking

No licensed photograph of this dish yet.

Prep
20 min
Cook
25 min
Rest
72 h
Total
72 h 45 min
Serves
20
Level
Intermediate
Calories
39

Includes a 3-day salt cure at room temperature.

Ingredients

20 servings (about 30 g)

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Toss the diced green mango (opens in a new tab) with the salt and half the turmeric (opens in a new tab) in a clean glass jar. Cover with a lid and leave at room temperature out of direct sun for 3 days, shaking the jar once or twice a day. The mango releases a yellow brine and softens slightly; it should smell sharp and fruity.

    Food safety: Use a scrupulously clean jar and keep the mango pressed under its brine; discard the batch if you see fuzzy mould or it smells rotten.

  2. Step 2

    Toast the fenugreek (opens in a new tab) seeds in a dry frying pan over medium-low heat for about 1 minute, until a shade darker and fragrant, then cool and grind to a powder in a spice grinder.

    Spices being ground in a mortar and pestle
    How it looks · Photo: https://kaboompics.com/ on Pexels

  3. Step 3

    Heat the oil in a saucepan (opens in a new tab) over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds (opens in a new tab) and cover; when they stop popping (about 30 seconds), add the garlic (opens in a new tab) and stir for 1 minute until fragrant but not brown. Stir in the ground fenugreek (opens in a new tab), remaining turmeric (opens in a new tab), cayenne, paprika (opens in a new tab) and cumin for 20 seconds.

    Food safety: Mustard seeds spit hot oil; keep a lid handy.

  4. Step 4

    Add the mango with all its brine, the vinegar, sugar (opens in a new tab) and water. Bring to a simmer and cook gently, stirring often, for 15–20 minutes until the mango is very soft and the liquid has reduced by about a third.

  5. Step 5

    Cool for 10 minutes, then blend to the texture you like: smooth and pourable like ketchup for sabich, or leave some pieces for a chunkier pickle. Add a splash of water if it is too thick to drizzle.

    Food safety: Blend hot purées in batches with the lid vented and a towel held over it; trapped steam can blow the lid off.

  6. Step 6

    Taste: it should be sour, salty, spicy and slightly bitter from the fenugreek (opens in a new tab). Pour into a clean jar, cool completely and refrigerate. The flavour improves after a day.

About this dish

Origin
Baghdad, Iraq · Commonly attributedBrought to Iraq through trade with India in the 19th century, often credited to Baghdadi Jewish merchants with links to Bombay; Iraqi Jews brought it to Israel, where it is a sabich staple. Traditional amba is sun-cured for days or weeks; this home method uses a shorter salt cure, as many modern home recipes do.Also popular in IsraelMore food from Iraq
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Condiments, chutneys & relishes · Sauces · Pickles & ferments
Cooking method
Fermented, Simmered, Blended
Taste
tangy, spicy (chilli heat), bitter, aromatic / warmly spiced
Diet
Vegan · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · Low-carb
All labelsVegan · Plant-based · Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Lacto-vegetarian · Ovo-vegetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Low-carb · DASH-style
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Make-ahead
Cook more with
Raw green mango · Turmeric · Fenugreek · Mustard seeds · Garlic · Cayenne / chilli powder
Techniques
Simmering · Spice roasting (dry-roasting) · Wet grinding · Dry grinding · Reduction

Allergens

  • Contains: Mustardfrom mustard seeds

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

39 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 31 g · recipe makes 20

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 5%
  • Carbohydrate 61%
  • Fat 35%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g
Energy39 kcal126 kcal
Protein0.5 g1.5 g
Carbohydrate6.3 g20.2 g
Net carbohydrate5.5 g17.9 g
Sugars5.2 g16.6 g
Added sugars1 g3.2 g
Fibre0.7 g2.3 g
Fat1.6 g5.3 g
Saturated fat0.1 g0.5 g
Trans fat0 g0 g
Cholesterol0 mg0 mg
Sodium389 mg1254 mg
Salt equivalent1 g3.1 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
68 mg
Calcium
8 mg
Iron
0.3 mg
Magnesium
6 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
23 µg
Vitamin C
11 mg
Vitamin D
0 µg
Vitamin B12
0 µg
Folate (DFE)
14 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: ground cumin.
  • Raw green mango: Ripe raw mango (FDC 169910) used as a stand-in; unripe green mango is more acidic and has less sugar, so sugars are slightly overstated.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Choose the hardest, greenest mangoes you can find; ripe mango makes a sweet jam, not amba.
  • Fenugreek gives amba its characteristic bitterness and aroma; do not leave it out, but do not burn it either.

Common mistakes

  • Using ripe mango.
  • Over-toasting the fenugreek, which makes the sauce acrid.
  • Under-salting the cure; the salt preserves the mango and seasons the sauce.

Serve with

  • Drizzled into sabich with fried aubergine, egg, salad and tahini.
  • With masgouf (Iraqi grilled fish), shawarma, falafel or kubba.

Food safety

  • The salt cure is a short ferment; use a very clean jar, keep the mango under its brine and discard any batch with mould or an off smell.
  • Turmeric stains surfaces and fabrics yellow.

Storage

  • Refrigerate in a clean, covered jar for up to 1 month. Always use a clean, dry spoon.

Variations

  • Sun-cured amba (Iraq): Traditional Iraqi amba: salted mango slices dried in the sun for days before being packed with spices and vinegar; the flavour is more intense and the texture chunkier.
  • Quick amba: Grated green mango cooked directly with the spices without curing; ready the same day but less complex.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Goes with

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

  • Raw green mango, 2–3 hard green mangoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice or thin strips (about 500 g flesh)600 g
Used in steps 1, 4

Make it milder, swap ingredients for your diet, change the batch size or thickness — the original stays as it is.

Customise in Sauce & Drizzle

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

You might also like