Mango Pachadi

The Tamil New Year sweet-sour-bitter-spicy-salty relish — small pieces of raw mango cooked in a thin tamarind base with jaggery and dried red chilli until the mango softens, then tempered with mustard seeds, neem flowers, and curry leaves. The five tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, spicy) present simultaneously in a single preparation represent the full spectrum of life's experiences; eating mango pachadi on Tamil New Year (Puthandu, April 14) with all five flavours is a ritual act of acceptance. The neem flowers provide the bitterness — barely a pinch, enough to introduce the taste without overwhelming. Made in every Tamil Brahmin household on New Year morning and offered to the deity before being eaten by all family members.