Gear up for Holi with Ranveer Singh's new obsession—chiroti halu and my love for Magic Masala chaat

If you know me at all, you know about my love for regional Indian food. And 500 recipes later—which I put together for my cookbook, Tiffin—I keep saying how I'd write a sequel in a heartbeat. While that is a story for another time, today I want to focus on a dish that Bollywood star Ranveer Singh spoke about on his Instagram stories a few days ago. Trust me to admire food even on an actor's Instagram. During his time off at wife Deepika Padukone's parents' home in Bengaluru, Singh was treated to a hot plate of chiroti halu, a flaky Maharashtrian dish made out of flour and dusted with sugar. Hard to find it readymade, at least in Mumbai, I am taking a tip or two from our in-house Marathi food specialist Archana Arte. Make this one dish for Singh's sake, following Arte's video to the T.

In India, it's literally always the time to eat mithai. While the month of March started with Mahashivratri for which we curated this easy-to-make sabudana fingers recipe, we are now gearing up for the festival of colours with videos like Malpua and Thandai, which will be up soon and Gujiye Ki Chaat.

At our sister brand Start2Bake, we have curated a list of Holi special baking classes that will teach you to make an assorted range of desserts to keep up with the festive spirit. You can click here to know more and sign up for one (or more) of these classes.

Also, if you're hosting a Holi party, make sure to serve plates of this magic masala papdi chaat. Plus, the video is so beautiful I've been watching it on loop. Who would have thought that Lays works perfectly well instead of spicy papdi? Or, try the Indian street style schezwan dosa that's perfect for a Sunday night dinner for two.

One feature this month that I am proud to have put together with my team is the list of nine women in the hospitality space who we felicitated for Women's Day. We identified trailblazing chefs, restaurateurs and entrepreneurs from F&B for their extensive work that has had far-reaching and positive impacts on our society, beyond the world of food. Read our cover story to know more about them and how their work has been crucial in empowering other women and marginalised communities.

Everything said and done, seriously make that chiroti halu though and report back.