Makara

Skt., makara
(edible) substances; sometimes translated as "observances"

Term for the five ingredients and/or substances necessary for the Panchamakara or Panchatattva, the Grand Ritual of Tantra.

As each makara begins with the letter "M", they are often simply referred to as the Five M:

madya (wine): Considering medieval India did not have our modern type of wine, the term actually refers to any alcoholic drink, be it palm-wine or coconut liquor
mamsa (meat): mostly the in Hindu society normally forbidden beef (Tib., sha)
matsya (fish)
mudra (cereal wafer): Often an aphrodisiac preparation in which cannabis is mixed into parched rice or another grain wafer.
The reading that mudra means cereal wafer is the one most commonly encountered, yet just as with maithuna (5), there are different ideas of what this 4th makara may stand for.
David Gordon White for example reminds us that the term mudra is also used for the woman partaking in the ritual and that mudra can also refer, as "great seal" to the "mouth of the yogini", i.e. her yoni. For more and other meanings of MUDRA, see here.
maithuna (mingled sexual fluids) and/or mithunam (sexual union)

Some groups, especially in Vamacara and Kula circles, use only three of these five. According to these teachings, only madya (1), mudra (4) and maithuna (5) are important, with the latter being supreme. Again another source, the Kalikapurana, advises only mamsa (2), mudra (4) and maithuna (5).

Some Tantric schools, mostly those of dakshinacara (right hand) affiliation, have assigned alternative meanings to these five M. The wine, meat, fish etc. are then replaced with the following edible substances:

coconut juice
cheese
ginger
rice
honey

Others again deviate even further from the original tradition and replace all outer "ingredients" with purely inner "observances":

composing the mind
breathing in
breathing out
holding the breath
meditation