Indian food: the names of different dishes and what they actually ARE

Is there a thread that tells you this? Next time I go to India I want to eat different stuff...but the menus are usually so big (or the specialty places are so hidden, with no English), that I end up eating the same stuff (palak paneer, which I still like!) but I want to eat different stuff next time!

Has anyone started a thread where they say the name of the dish, then an description? I would love that! (with pics would be even better)

For example, I want to try this stuff: Rabri Faluda

http://medhaa.blogspot.com/2008/11/rabri-falooda.html

A thread with a picture of the dish along with basic ingredients would be very helpful.

ta da! Reading your mind, Drews

Apparently, Rabri means different things in different parts of India!

In Bengal, it is a rich sweet dish made from thick whole-milk-skin and tons of sugar. The recipe in your link suggests something else.

Wikipedia says, in Rajasthan and Gujarat it means a dish "made with dahi (yogurt), flour, muth and a combination of bajre (millet flour) ki roti". --- Just don't expect your Bengali Rabri to be "mixed with yogurt or buttermilk and garnished with cumin seeds (zeera), onions, etc."

In Bihar it means a(n) (in)famous politician's wife!

(Well, don't look at me like that! See the Wikipedia disambiguation page here !)
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hahaha- the wikipedia entry is hilarious. The pan north-India description of Rabri is the same as what you describe to be for the Bengali version. The Bihar politician mentioned is Lalu Yadav's wife (rabri devi). Lalu Yadav was the former CM of bihar and later the railway minister of India. His wife was named after the dish (which is a fairly common practice in rural areas - there're women called Jalebi as well. Rabri is a condensed sweetened milk based dessert - made with either whole milk or skin of milk, loads of sugar and garnished with cardamom, saffron, almonds, etc.

The dish described by the OP is a common variant in north and west India - essentially adding falooda to it.

I've eaten that salty dish with yogurt you've described but it was called 'laapsi' and not rabri.

Just found this...Indian Dishes / Foods Quick Reference

Rabri Falooda is a common street food item served across several Northern states. Basically Rabri as described by suricate with sugar syrup and falooda (long noodle like things) all mixed together with crushed ice (or dubious origin) and kesar/rose flavouring. Sure recipe for Delhi Belly!

Damn...didn't know it had ice in it...another "goodie" off the list...

A sage thought SKM - wouldn't risk it !

It will be a humongous task to create a list of all Indian dishes even with a short description. It will be a thick fat book, if it is done honestly covering everything. Each state has a host of different local dishes. Palak paneer is a typical Punjabi food. Dosa is a typical south Indian speciality. Dhokla is from western India and momo is from the north-east. But hidden within this quadrilateral are hundreds of different types of food. Of course not all of them are commercially available in restaurants.
My suggestion would be next time you go to a restaurant ask the waiter to suggest what you should eat.
Coolfi-faluda is a very popular traditional sweet dish in north India. Rabri-faluda sounds like a more sophisticated and perhaps modern variation on the same thing.

Calcuttan you obviously don't know your Falooda well enough - the Rabri falooda has been a street food member for a long long time. As long as my living memory goes there always was a rabri falooda cart around most street corners. It is a pretty old member of the falooda family and there is nothing modern about it at all!

Yes, and what a yummy thing it is. There are a few hawkers that sell it in old Delhi and I cant just get enough. Kulfi falooda does not even come close in taste.

I have been eating street foods from my age six and I am 47. I have never heard of Rabri-faluda before. I accept that I don't know it all.

Even the best of us can miss out on a few things that are staple so no worries at all. Next time look for a cart and try it