The Truckers’ Food That Became an Indian Culinary Style

Text and photos by Kalpana Sunder

Usually centered on a tandoor, or earthenware oven, these were originally like oases for tired drivers and their crews who ferried goods across the country.

One of my outstanding food memories is of road travel in the late ’80s. It was a piping hot meal of dal makhni (black lentils simmered in a creamy sauce) and flaky, crisp parathas (flatbreads) with blobs of white butter, served with cut onions and green chilies, accompanied with a tall glass of creamy lassi (buttermilk), at the nondescript Giani dhaba on a bitterly cold winter afternoon, on the bleak highway to Sonamarg, in Kashmir, India.

A road trip in India is incomplete without stopping at one of these highway cafés, called a dhaba. The origins of the  first dhabas are apocryphal, but it’s believed that they first thrived in the mid-20th century on the Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia’s oldest roads that connects Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent, starting in Peshawar (now in Pakistan) and ending in Bangladesh, passing through Amritsar, Delhi and Kolkata. Dhabas were associated with earthy hospitality and comfort food that hungry truck drivers looked forward to.

Usually centered on a tandoor, or earthenware oven, these were originally like oases for tired drivers and their crews who ferried goods across the country; they could have a meal and even take a nap. Puneetinder K. Sidhu, a travel and food columnist and author, says that dhabas owe their origins to the partition of the country, when displaced people from Punjab fled their homes on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. They dispersed across India and set up businesses from scratch that offered freshly prepared, friendly-on-the-pocket comfort food.

Dhabas, supposed to be derived from the Hindi word ‘dabba,’ meaning lunch box, are rustic, no-frills roadside shacks, usually found close to petrol stations, on the highway or on the outskirts of towns that began in the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, as pit stops for truck drivers. Most dhabas are named after the owners like Sharma Dhaba, Sunny da dhaba, etc., and are usually open 24/7 and play loud film music.

Now they are used not only by drivers, but everyone from road trippers, to families with children.

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Punjabi food, which was synonymous with dhabas, has been influenced by the diverse culinary cultures of Persia, Afghanistan and Central Asia, as the region’s situated on the ancient caravan routes from Central Asia. It’s also heavily influenced by the agriculture and farming lifestyle of the fertile bread-basket state of Punjab, fed by five rivers. Locally grown staple foods like wheat, a variety of legumes, leafy greens like mustard, spinach and radish, and dairy products form major parts of the cuisine.

A communal tandoor oven that’s used to bake breads and meat, and also stay warm in the winters is also a staple of Punjabi cuisine. The tandoor is of Central Asian origin, and most villages in Punjab had a tradition of the sanjha chulha (a common oven) for making bread at a central place, where women would take their dough and bake it, and also gossip and exchange news.  Later it began to be used also for grilling meats. Many dhabas use traditional brass or copper utensils, which are supposed to be beneficial to health.

Charcoal is heavily used in the cooking, so most dhaba food has a delicious smoky flavor.     

Dhabas are traditionally characterized by mud huts with casual seating on rope strung cots (called chaarpai in Hindi) and food served on large steel plates. Food is seasoned with spices like turmeric, asafetida, mustard seeds, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom and coriander. Since, historically, the cooks had no access to mixers, grinders and refrigerators, dishes evolved with a skillful use of oil and spices, so that food did not go bad or spoil.

Ranveer Brar, celebrity chef and TV host says that “Dhabas work on tight margins. Since the turnover in a dhaba is high, they use fresh ingredients, and the spices used are usually whole, not the powder form, as commercial spices and spice mixes are expensive.”

There are no exotic marinades or sauces. They generally use curd (a common name for yogurt) instead of tomatoes, as it’s cheaper and makes the food last longer. All the dairy products are usually made in-house like butter, curds etc. Charcoal is heavily used in the cooking, so most dhaba food has a delicious smoky flavor.     

Typical items on the menu include butter chicken, dal, kadhi (a yellow chickpea flour and yoghurt gravy with onion fritters), flatbreads like naans, aloo parathas (flatbreads stuffed with potatoes), curries, and drinks like masala chai (tea) and lassi. Some dhabas called vaishno dhabas, on religious trails, are predominantly vegetarian to serve pilgrims and vegetarian travelers. Menus reflect the changing seasons—in winters, one finds the typical sarson ka saag (a curry made out of mustard leaves) served with makki ki roti (corn flat bread).

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Amritsar, the holy city of the Sikhs, where many people come to visit the Golden Temple, is where many legendary dhabas are located. Most of the famous dhabas here serve kulcha (flaky breads stuffed with potatoes) with chana (chickpeas in a gingery tomato sauce) and are cooked with desi ghee (clarified butter). 

One memorable meal was at the Kesar ka dhaba, which dates back to 1916.We reached it through a labyrinth of narrow streets, so narrow that only rikshaws and cycles could access it.  The hole-in-the wall dhaba is famous for its laccha (multilayered) parathas and dal makhani made in gargantuan cauldrons, slow-cooked all day long to perfection.

Many dhabas acquire cult status and have people from neighboring cities who drive just to have a meal. One of Chef Ranveer Brar’s favorite dhabas is the iconic Puran Singh da dhaba at Ambala, Haryana, which is famous for its tandoori and butter chicken. PR Ganapathy, a social entrepreneur says that the dhaba was so popular, that legend has it that other dhaba owners paid him to close at 6 pm, so that they could get some business.

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Over time, dhabas have evolved to define a culinary culture or genre, and also loosely to refer to any eatery on a highway. Many rustic dhabas with their kitsch décor have been today replaced with air conditioned halls, but the style of food served remains essentially the same. Many cities have dhaba-style restaurants. Siddhu talks about the Raja Dhaba in Ludhiana, which bills itself as a “fine dining dhaba” and serves Chinese food and pizzas.

Chef Harjinder Singh, popularly called Sweety Singh, is one of the most popular ambassadors of Punjabi street cuisine in India. 

“My family moved to Delhi after the Partition in 1947, and my father started cooking humble home-style Punjabi food and delivered it on bicycles and later set up a small food cart,” Singh says. “I grew up watching my father cook, and never thought that I would make a career of it.

“I believe, like my father, in slow cooking, no use of coloring or cream, and use of old fashioned copper vessels,” he says.“…Dhaba-style Punjabi food is all about traditions, using desi ghee [clarified butter], simmering dal over long hours on a coal fired oven, using fresh ground spices, and making food with love, the way a mother cooks at home. It’s about simplicity and food that’s digested easily.”

Panthayil Raju, who runs a popular Punjabi restaurant in Kolkata called Punjabee Rasoi, says that most restaurants in urban centers that call themselves dhabas just use props like lorry number plates or cots to replicate the dhaba ambience, but the food that they serve is more fusion Punjabi food that caters to the masses.

He says that what dhabas were always known for is the quality of their kaali dal (a blackish lentil) which was often simmered overnight on embers for about 12 hours, till it became creamy with  a smoky flavor.

“I still make my dal like that at our restaurant and focus on traditional Punjabi food not corrupted by modern influences,” he says.

Many dhabas acquire cult status and have people from neighboring cities who drive just to have a meal.

Dhabas across the country now serve local cuisine based on where they are. In the North Eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, dhabas might serve you pork, whereas in Himachal Pradesh, you would find kadhi-chawal (yogurt curry with fritters) on the menus. Most dhabas in the very cold areas of Ladakh and Kashmir just serve Maggi noodles and hot tea.

Suresh Daga, an entrepreneur based in Chennai and an enthusiastic trekker, recalls his best dhaba meal when he was travelling from Lahaul to Manali in the Himalayas in Northern India. 

“It was a grueling high-altitude drive of 10 hours, most of it off-road and in the Spiti Valley, near the Kunzum pass in the Himalayas, we stopped off, tired and bleary eyed, at this modest but legendary dhaba, in a small place called Batal,” he says. It was a shack with mud floors, called Chandra Dhabaor Chacha Chachi ka dhaba.  Run by an elderly couple Dorje Bodh and his wife Hishe, they serve only rajma (kidney beans in creamy gravy) with chawal (rice).

“We were weary, ravenous and nothing has tasted as divine as that simple meal that cost us around Rs 80,” says Daga.

This dhabha has been famous because of the food and shelter that it sometimes provides in a difficult terrain to stranded hikers and bikers caught in sudden landslides, snowfall or unexpected weather. Without a single petrol pump, a store or human habitation within 100 kilometers, the dhaba is a savior for many weary travelers.

 “The best thing about dhabas is that the food is fresh, cooked that day, as usually they don’t have refrigerators and the breads are cooked before your eyes. Very often they are ready to make a simple lentil or curry to your specifications, too,” says Daga.

Sidhu says “that even today if you want to know how genuine a dhaba is count the number of trucks, not cars parked outside.  The truckers ultimately know the real deal.”