Odia Tomato Khatta

Sweet-sour tomato relish tempered with panch phoron — ripe tomatoes cooked down with mustard oil, dried red chilli, and a generous amount of jaggery until the tomatoes collapse into a jammy, tangy-sweet chutney. A standard item at every Odia meal and an obligatory component of the Mahaprasad at Jagannath temple; the sweet-sour profile from the jaggery-tomato combination provides palate balance as the counterpoint to the sharp mustard curries of the Odia plate.