When I were there there were two kinds of daal (although nobody there would really tell me that there was a difference, my roommates and I definitely noticed it)-- yummy green daal, that was sparingly found, and OK but gets boring yellow daal, that was there two times a day, seven days a week.

I think the spirographs were called "bitter gourd" which makes sense given the taste. If you make it down to Bardibas you can see them selling it. It looks pretty wild, like if a witch put all the world's warts onto a melon or something. (uncooked picture: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2226/2041791431_46b835f8c6.jpg?v=0_ )

I'm clearly going to have to pay closer attention to the daal, although I did notice that the daal at lunch today was spicier than usual - perhaps that's the green daal you're talking about.

And just returned from a walk to Bardibas, but wasn't shopping for/looking closely at the vegetables (the chicken, uh, being dispatched to the great pecking ground in the sky must have distracted me), so I'll have to look for those next time. I think you're absolutely correct, though. I suspect they're the kind of vegetable the possession of which would keep you from being allowed to board domestic or international flights.