🧠✨ Want to ‘brush up’ on your Indian food vocabulary?

Here’s a guide to common food items, utensils, and cultural references you may encounter at Indian restaurants — plus short descriptions of each.

📣 Our servers will be more than happy to help you refine your pronunciation if you’d like to impress your friends!

🅰️ A–D

• Aloo 🥔: Potato
• Achaar 🥒: Indian pickle, typically made from fruits or vegetables and preserved in spices and oil
• Biryani 🍚: A flavorful rice dish made with basmati rice, spices, and usually meat (chicken, mutton, or beef), sometimes with vegetables
• Chapati 🫓: A type of unleavened flatbread, often served with curries
• Chutney 🌶️: A condiment made from fruits, herbs, or spices — can be sweet, sour, or spicy
• Dal 🥣: Lentils, often cooked with spices to make a stew or soup
• Dosa 🥞: A thin, crispy crepe made from fermented rice and lentil batter; served with chutney and sambar
• Dum 🔥: A slow-cooking method where food is cooked in its own juices or steam
• Dal Tadka ✨: Lentils cooked with spices and tempered with ghee (clarified butter) and fried spices

🔤 E–H

• Ek ☝️: “One” (used in ordering, e.g., ek chai = one tea)
• Ghee 🧈: Clarified butter, commonly used in Indian cooking
• Gulab Jamun 🍩: Deep-fried milk dough balls soaked in rose-flavored sugar syrup
• Halwa 🍮: A sweet dish made from ingredients like carrots, lentils, or semolina
• Hariyali 🌿: Meaning “green,” often referring to dishes made with leafy greens or herbs
• Hara Bhara Kebab 🟢: A vegetarian kebab made with spinach, peas, and green vegetables

🔠 I–L

• Idli 🍘: Steamed rice cakes served with sambar and chutney
• Jalebi 🌀: A deep-fried sweet dessert soaked in sugar syrup, shaped in spirals
• Kachori 🥟: A deep-fried pastry stuffed with lentils or spiced potatoes
• Korma 🍛: A creamy curry made with yogurt, cream, and ground nuts
• Kebab 🍢: Grilled skewers of meat or vegetables, often marinated
• Lassi 🥤: A yogurt-based drink, served sweet or salted
• Lassi (Mango) 🥭: A fruity variation made with mango pulp
• Ladoo 🍬: A round sweet made from flour, sugar, and ghee

🔡 M–P

• Masala 🧂: A blend of spices used in Indian cooking
• Methi 🌱: Fenugreek, used for its slightly bitter flavor
• Momos 🥟: Tibetan-style dumplings with veggie or meat fillings
• Naan 🍞: A soft, leavened flatbread, perfect with curries
• Palak 🥬: Spinach (used in dishes like Palak Paneer)
• Paneer 🧀: Indian cottage cheese used in many vegetarian dishes
• Pulao 🍚: A rice dish cooked with spices and sometimes vegetables or meat
• Paratha 🫓: A flaky flatbread, sometimes stuffed with veggies, paneer, or meat

🔠 Q–S

• Raita 🥒: A yogurt-based side dish with veggies, fruit, or spices
• Rajma 🫘: Kidney beans in a spicy gravy
• Samosa 🥟: Deep-fried pastry with spiced potato, peas, or meat filling
• Saag 🌿: Leafy greens, especially mustard greens
• Sambar 🍲: South Indian lentil stew with vegetables
• Saag Paneer 🧀🌱: Paneer curry with mustard greens
• Tandoori 🔥: Dishes cooked in a traditional clay oven (tandoor)
• Tikka 🍢: Marinated, grilled pieces of meat or vegetables

🔤 T–Z

• Thali 🍽️: A full platter with rice, dal, vegetables, curries, bread, and dessert
• Vada 🍘: A savory, doughnut-shaped lentil snack
• Vindaloo 🌶️: A spicy Goan curry made with pork, vinegar, and chili
• Zarda 🍚: A sweet saffron rice dessert with nuts and sugar

🍽️ Common Utensils & Dining Terms

• Thali 🍽️: Platter or tray used to serve a variety of dishes
• Chula 🔥: Traditional stove or cooking range
• Chimta ✋: Tongs for handling hot naan or tandoori items
• Pappad 🫓: Thin, crispy flatbread, often served as a snack

🙋‍♀️ Just Ask!

These terms are just a start!
If there’s another word you’re curious about or you want to know more about Indian culture, just ask our team — we love sharing the flavors and the stories behind them! 🌍❤️