Dry Mango Powder, Amchur Powder

1. From readymade soups and pastes to chutneys and dry spice mixes, nowadays in this fast paced life, everything is easily available in local stores. But, there are many people who still prefer preparing their own Indian spice blends at home like garam masala, chole masala, chaat masala etc. Our website does have all these basic masala recipes that will help you enhance the taste of food at home. Like homemade dry mango powder then here are some of my go-to homemade Indian spice mixes :
   ● Homemade Veg Protein Powder
   ● Homemade Rasam Powder
   ● How To Make Coriander Cumin Seeds Powder

1. To prepare the amchur powder recipe (dry mango powder), wash and pat dry the mangoes. Make use of the best quality kachi kairi which would be very sour, juicy with thick flesh.
   
2. Peel the skin using a peeler. While peelings ensure no green skin is visible on the body as this will lead to blackening of the amchoor powder later.
   
3. Using the same peeler, peel the mangoes into thin strips or chips. It is very important to use a good quality peeler as you would require really thin strips of mangoes. You can make use of a sharp knife or vegetable mandolin if you do not have a peeler.
   
4. Spread the mangoes in a large steel plate. You can even make use of 2-3 plates to make the drying process faster.
5. Cover it well with a dry muslin cloth and keep it in the sun to dry for 4 to 5 hours. Covering the plate with muslin prevents the dust or dirt particles to settle with the mango chips.
   
6. Next day, remove the muslin cloth, toss it and cover it again with a muslin cloth, and keep it in the sun to dry for 4 to 5 hours. The tossing helps in spreading the chips evenly so, the once which have not come in contact with the sun can now dry.
   
7. Third day, remove the muslin cloth, toss it again, it must have shrunk by this time and also partially dried, cover it again with a muslin cloth and keep it to dry in the sun approx. 5 hours.
   
8. Repeat step 5 to dry it for 1 more day or till the mango slices turn crisp. To understand, if they have been dried perfectly or no, try breaking a mango chip with your hand and if they break easily and become powdery then they are ready to be grinded.
   
9. Blend it in a mixer till smooth and our homemade amchoor powder is ready. 5 medium sized raw mangoes yields half a cup of dried mango powder.
   
10. Store the dry mango powder in an air-tight container and use as required. Amchoor powder is widely used in North-Indian cuisine to provide a tangy flavour especially in Punjabi subzis like chole, rajma, parathas stuffing etc.
    

1. Amchoor literally means aam/am meaning raw mangoes/kairi and choor/chur means to crush into a powder in Hindi.
2. While sun drying takes around 2-3 days, there is an easier method to make the amchur powder if you want to make in other seasons except for summer. Oven-drying is more convenient when there is not enough sunlight to dry the mango chips. Set the oven at the lowest temperature (between 50-90°C) and bake them for around 6-7 hours. In all, you need to dry the kairi chips in the oven for around 21-24 hours which is like 7 hours for 3 days. In day time, pop the tray in ovens and during the night time, remove them, cover with a muslin cloth and keep at room temperature.When they become crispy and can be broken easily, transfer them to a mixer jar and powder them.