Lad brought up on Indian food (3)
I believe the answer is:
dal
'indian food' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'lad brought up' is the wordplay.
'brought up' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up).
'lad' back-to-front is 'DAL'.
'on' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dal that I've seen before include "Indian pulse puree" , "Indian dish of pulses" , "Pigeon pea" .)