Indian food terms
Given below are some food items with a native touch, but common to India. Also find some item names that are
called differently.
Item Description
Alu Potato
Atta Flour
Badusha A sweet made of refined flour, fried in ghee and dipped in sugar syrup
Bathura A moon shaped fried snack made of wheat flour and fried in oil to puff. Normally
taken with a side dish namely ‘Chole’
Batter Mixture of flour and water, stirred or beaten to form a thin/thick paste.
Bhajia A snack made of sliced vegetable dipped in bengal gram flour and deep fried to
crispy form
Bhaji Another term for green vegetables
Bhelpuri A snack made of puffed rice, chopped onion, mild spices and pulses
Bhujia A dish prepared in minced form
Bhurta A dish made of vegetable, baked on heat or fire and subsequently mashed to
prepare the dish
Bonda A round shaped deep-fried snack that consists of potato curry covered with a layer
of bengal gram batter
Boondi Sieved batter of bengal gram flour fried to crispy form in the shape of pearls
Biryani A specific method of rice preparation with select vegetables and aromatic spices
Burfi A sweet made in the form of a thin soft cake
Biryani pathha Bay leaf
Chapati A thin layer of pressed wheat flour dough, baked on a flat pan with very little oil.
The same baked without oil is termed as ‘phulka’
Chenna Curdled cow milk in solidified form used as a main ingredient for preparation of
some sweets also known as bengali sweets
Chutney A hot/spicy dish made of fried and ground spices with a choice of vegetables /
greens
Chole An exclusive spicy side dish that is taken with puri or bathura
Chumchum A syrup filled spongy milk sweet
Chuka Country sorrel
Chick peas Whole bengal gram
Curry powder Dry ground powder made of select aromatic spices and pulses used in curries
Curd Yoghurt
Dal A dish made of cooked pulses with different vegetables in variant flavors
Dosa A moon shaped snack made of fermented batter, baked with little oil in the form
of a thin pan cake
Dhum The process of cooking a dish with the vessel covered and heat from both ends
Dhokla Steam cooked semolina puffs with mild spices
Deep fry A method of frying vegetable or a snack
Garam masala Dry powder made of aromatic spices used in little quantity in curries or rice
Eatable
camphor
A diluted form of eatable camphor used in preparation of sweets
Egg plant Brinjal
Gulab jamun A soft round shaped sweet made of milk powder or solidified milk, deep fried in
ghee and soaked in sugar syrup
A flat metal plate similar to skillet
A dish with a large quantity of thick paste made of ground spices or vegetables
Shredding vegetables with the help of a vegetable grater
Decoration given to a food item
A sweet in the form of thick jelly, made of ghee and flour in different flavors
A snack made of fermented batter poured in small quantities into a sieved plate(
