Amchur Powder | Amchoor (Dry Mango Powder)

Since India is a ‘masala or spice box’ culture, nothing is better than making your own spice powders at home. Not only the experience is enriching, but the whole deal is simply joie de vivre! You’ll feel similar with this Dry Mango Powder, also called as Amchur Powder, while making it at home. One of the most intrinsic ingredients in Punjabi and North Indian cuisines, Amchoor Powder imparts a streak of tang to any dish it is added to.

About Amchur Powder

A variety of North Indian and Punjabi recipes use Amchur Powder (Dry Mango Powder) and dried pomegranate seeds powder to get a slight hint of sourness in them.

While tamarind, kokum and lemon are common souring agents in Western and South India, you would not find these in Northern parts of India.

Primarily, Amchoor Powder and another popular Indian spice mix called the Garam Masala are added at the very last stage of cooking, when the dish is almost ready.

The taste is quite prominent. So, you’ll be able to find a distinct difference in any curry or sabzi, before and after the addition of Amchur Powder.

Dry Mango Powder is absolutely essential in many Punjabi preparations like Chole Masala, Paneer Tikka, Bhindi Masala, etc. to get the right taste.

You may experiment by replacing Amchoor Powder with alternatives like lemon juice or tamarind, but be sure to get a changed flavor profile.

How Is Dry Mango Powder Made

The one and only ingredient that you will require to make Amchur Powder is raw, green unripe mangoes or kairi/keri.

If you dissect the word amchur/Amchoor – ‘am’ is ‘aam’ or a Hindi word for mango and ‘chur/choor’ is ‘to crush, crumble or powder’ – hence, the title. The taste of dry mango powder is sour.

Raw, green, unripe mango chips or strips are first sunbathed for a few days till they turn dried, brittle and crisp. Then, these mango pieces are powdered finely. This is the reason Amchoor Powder is called Dry Mango Powder in English.

By using 3 small raw mangoes, I got about 75 grams of Amchur Powder. So, more the quantity of mangoes in number, more the yield.

When using a home scale usage, 2 to 5 small to medium raw mangoes are enough. This much is easily ground at home and you will be able to use it for a couple of months.

Homemade Amchoor Powder is always better than the ones available in the market, stores or even online these days.

When you finish grinding the dried mango chips, the aroma from the grinder will be enough to get you convinced that the time spend in making the Dry Mango Powder was worth.

Ways To Dry Mangoes

Essentially, there are two ways you can dry the mango chips for the Dry Mango Powder:

1. Sun Dry – This is the original way to make a beautiful, fresh batch of Amchur Powder at home. Keep the mango pieces in the sun for about 2 to 3 days. The number of days may change as per the strength and duration of sun light.
2. Oven Dry – If you are at a place where you do not get sufficient sunlight, then you can use your oven to dry the mango pieces. Set your oven at the lowest temperature: between 50 degrees C/122 degrees F to 90 degrees C/194 degrees F.
   Depending on the temperature range, the mango chips will take about 10 to 24 hours for drying. Once properly dehydrated, the mango pieces would break easily and become powdery too if you press them.

The lowest temperature in my oven is of 60 degrees C/140 degrees F. During the day, I would keep the mango pieces for 7 hours in the oven at this temperature.

This I did for 3 days. In the night, I would cover them with a muslin cloth and keep at room temperature. It took me 21 hours to get the mango pieces completely dried and crisp.

If you have a dehydrator, you can try drying and dehydrating the mangoes in it. I have not used a dehydrator so I cannot tell my experience about a dehydrator. But you can try drying the mangoes in it.

How to make Amchur Powder

Prep Mangoes

1. Before you begin make sure that all your spoons, plates, tray, knife, peeler, grinder and completely dry and clean.

Rinse and wipe 3 small or 2 medium-sized green, unripe, raw mangoes completely dry. Peel the skin. This is the toughest part. Use a good peeler.

With the same peeler, peel the mangoes into thin strips. The strips or chips have to be thinly peeled. Peeling the mango flesh is easier than peeling the skin.

2. Spread the thin mango strips on a tray or a large plate. You can also use 2 to 3 trays or plates to make the drying easier.

For easy cleaning, you can line the tray with a parchment paper.

Dry Mangoes

3. Now, heat your oven to its minimum. Place the mango strips in the oven. Depending on the temperature, it may take anywhere between 10 hours to 2 days or more.

I heated the oven at 60 degrees Celsius and it took about 21 hours for the mangoes to dry completely over a period of 3 days.

I would dry them in the oven for 7 hours during the day. At night, I would keep the tray covered with a muslin in a dry place.

4. The mango strips become crisp and break easily like a thin potato wafer. As soon as they cool, powder them in the grinder.

If you keep for more time after they have been cooled, then some of the chips loose their crispness and get a chewy texture. Then, you will have to dry them again in the oven for a few hours till they become crisp.

A few chips which have been peeled thickly may be thick and not crisp. But if they have dried properly, then they easily get powdered in the grinder.

Make Amchoor

5. As soon as the mango strips cool, add them to a dry grinder or spice grinder. Grind to a fine powder.

6. Remove and store Amchur Powder or Dry Mango Powder in a clean dry jar. Seal with an airtight lid. Note that 3 small mangoes yielded 75 grams of Amchoor Powder.

Store at room temperature in a clean glass jar or BPA free plastic jar in a cool dry place. You can also keep the jar with the amchur powder in the refrigerator.

Homemade amchoor keeps well for 6 months. If you have stored and used it correctly it can last for more than 6 months.

7. Use homemade Amchur Powder in your recipes, as needed.

Expert Tips

1. It is advisable to soak the raw mangoes in water for 2 to 3 hours before peeling them, if you stay in extremely hot climatic conditions. This soaking helps in removing some heat from the fruit.
2. To find out whether the mango pieces are completely dried to be processed into the powder, pick a piece or two and press or break them with your hand. They should easily snap and break and become powdery.
3. You can either sundry the mango pieces or dehydrate them in an oven. Details are mentioned above.  
4. After the Amchoor Powder is processed fully, put in an airtight container and store at room temperature.
5. If stored incorrectly, the Dry Mango Powder will lose its freshness and become unusable. If stored correctly, it stays good for a year.

FAQs

This Amchur Powder recipe from the blog archives first published in August 2014 has been updated and republished and updated on June 2022.