We are slowly beginning to roll out something new everywhere we sell falafel: an Iraqi-Jewish egg/hummus/fried aubergine sandwich served not in our own flatbreads but a kind of Pita called Taboon. We don’t make this ourselves, but buy in from one of two Jewish bakeries in North London.
It has not one, not two, but three special sauces. First tahina, which everyone knows from falafel — the thing we insist on here is that the acidity isn’t chemical but is real lemon juice. Second, pomegranate molasses — kind of the Turkish equivalent of balsamic vinegar. Thirdly Amba, the green mango sauce Iraqis go crazy for, which has traditionally been made by Indians for export. The word Amba means ‘mango’ in Marathi, the regional language of Mumbia.
We first heard of Amba from the Syrian owner of a hardware shop near Whitecross Street market, where we’d gone to buy propane. He asked if we did Amba with falafel, and we immediately decided we had to. For years we made it ourselves using green mangoes when they appeared in the wholesale markets. But they were very expense — at least £20 a box, and were only sporadically available. DEFRA officials had a habit of impounding shipments when they arrived at Heathrow claiming they had spiders or other insect infestations.
The obvious route was to buy directly in a mango-growing country. We got some way talking to possible suppliers in Uganda and Pakistan before meeting Kriti Kumar (above left) on a visit to London to visit her trainee doctor sister,just across the road from the Highgate wood café. Her firm MM Poonjiaji has had a pivotal role in sending condiments to this country ; they developed the original Major Grey chutney under their ‘Sun’ brand before selling the recipe that’s essential with English-style Kedgeree and everything in and old fashioned curry restaurant.
It’s possible Poonjiaji’s also pioneered Amba with their Ship brand which together with Camel are the iconic representatives of this pickle, with its strong fenugreek flavour, bright yellow colour and a strong hit of acidity from the vinegar in which the mangoes were historically preserved on their sea crossing of the Indian ocean. So why come in and ask this venerable house to reinvent the wheel?
The reason is that working on recipes in Willesden Junction, we came up with a style that everyone raves about — even Iraqis who aren’t sure it is close enough in style to Ship and Camel to quality as real Amba. It’s just that the classic style is something of an acquired taste, and by using the natural acidity in the fruit and vacuum packing, we can take liberties that those who created Amba couldn’t risk for fear of spoilage.
It’s an enormous privileged to have followed in the foodsteps of the original Major Grey — real person, according to the Kumars with as much of a genuine back story as Colonel Saunders — and to have visited the actual building in Marine Lines in which he would have worked with Chef Bushan’s predecessor to create sweet Mango chutney.
Please try our product with falafel or sabih on one of the market stalls and as soon as possible we’ll add a ‘buy here’ tag so you can order it at home.