Amba (Pickled Mango Sauce)

Amba Tells the Story of the Jews of Iraq

As a child, I was always afraid of the bowl of ambiguous yellow sauce camped at the end of our dinner table. It was sour and spicy, a little fruity and a lot funky; my elementary-aged palate struggled to decipher its complexity.

The sauce is amba, a condiment made of pickled mango and pungent spices. And nowadays, I can't get enough of it.

Amba is a diaspora food that tells the story of the Jews of Iraq. Iraq was once home to the oldest and largest population of Jews in the world; there have been recorded populations since 586 B.C., during Babylonian times. Now, there are fewer than five Jews. My obsessively recorded family history in Iraq dates back over 2,500 years, since the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. We had roots there until my grandparents (along with much of the Jewish population) fled in the late 1940s, a time of increasing persecution of the community. In the mid-20th century, displaced Iraqi Jews traveled to Israel, and as they found a home in the newly established country, amba became popular, too. Amba finally made its way to the U.S. with families like mine, bringing its punchy flavor to celebrations throughout the year, complementing everything from grilled meats at summer cookouts to turkey and mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving.

My family's amba recipe comes together quickly in a blender, though I keep some of the mangoes chunky for a satisfying bite. I also like a little sweetness, so I add agave to balance out the sour green mango and white vinegar and to help bring out the flavor of the spices. At my dinner parties, I sometimes mix in some labneh and make it into a dip. I've fully embraced the sauce of my childhood and made it my own.