Rasaswad

This one's a keeper for every time you have friends coming over and you're tired of doing same old pav bhaji. Dabeli is actually much easier to put together, since there's no veggies to prepare, nothing to fry (as in Vada pav) and most of the ingredients are already in your pantry. It's just a simple, no fuss, chatpati dish for a fun-filled evening with friends. Just add a dessert, and you're good to go. I always think of two people when I make this - a friend of mine and my mom-in-law. They both love it. So here's the recipe for both of them:  Filling: Boil, peel and mash potatoes. Heat some oil in a pan. Add whole jeera, and chopped onion (the quantity of onion should be small. Unlike curries, you need just a little bit of onion for this). Saute till translucent (do not brown). Add some chopped tomato and saute some more. Add a little bit of Haldi, red chilli powder, dhani-zeera powder, salt and a big handful of Dabeli Masala (I use Spicezza brand). Saut...

Many Indian families follow the tradition of making a dish with 5, 7 or even 9 vegetables on Diwali. I guess it's a way to make sure you eat something healthy in the middle of all the sweets and treats. I started following my in-law's tradition of making chachar-pachar, a dish with 7 vegetables after I got married, but this is the first year I didn't end up with too big a pot. Also, each one was cooked perfectly. The key was to keep the vegetable pieces slightly on the bigger side, and of course, timing them correctly. Here's what I did. Peel and dice 1 big yukon gold potato, 1 red-skinned, indian style, white flesh, medium sweet potato and 1 big carrot into about 1 inch cubes, keep in water until ready to cook. Peel a big block of Dudhi (Lauki) and dice into 1 inch cubes. Peel 4-5 Parwal (the small, oblong, watermelon like looking vegetable) completely and cut into half. Cut 4-5 baby eggplants into 4 pieces each. Wipe, dry and then cut Okra into about 2 or 3 pieces e...