How to Read a Tiffin Menu: Common Dish Names Explained
A plain-English glossary for anyone ordering Indian food with confidence for the first time
If you’re new to ordering Indian tiffin, menus can be full of unfamiliar terms that all sort of sound similar until you know what they mean. Here’s a plain-English glossary of the words you’ll see most often.
📖 Common Terms Explained
- Dal: a lentil-based dish, usually a thin, soupy curry served with rice or roti.
- Sabzi: a general term for a cooked vegetable dish, dry or in light gravy.
- Roti / Chapati: a plain wholewheat flatbread, the everyday bread of most home-cooked meals.
- Naan: a leavened, often butter-brushed flatbread — more of a restaurant staple than daily home food.
- Thali: a full meal served as a platter with multiple small dishes, rice, bread and dessert.
- Curry: a broad term covering almost any dish with a spiced sauce or gravy.
- Masala: literally ‘spice mix’ — used both as an ingredient name and in dish names, such as chana masala.
- Tadka / Tempering: spices briefly fried in oil or ghee and poured over a dish for flavour.
- Raita: a cooling yoghurt-based side, often with cucumber or onion.
- Achar: Indian pickle, usually intensely spiced and tangy, served in small quantities.
🍽️ Ordering With Confidence
You don’t need to know every term to order well — if a menu item is unclear, just ask the provider directly. Most home cooks are happy to explain a dish, and it’s a good way to build a relationship with a provider you’ll be ordering from regularly, rather than guessing and hoping.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Dal is specifically lentil-based, usually soupy; sabzi is a broader term for a cooked vegetable dish, dry or lightly sauced.
Not usually — naan is more common in restaurants. Everyday home meals typically use plain roti or chapati instead.
A full platter meal with several small dishes, rice, bread and often a dessert — essentially a sampler of a full meal in one serving.
Absolutely — most home cooks are happy to explain their menu, and it helps you order with more confidence next time.
