Meals commonly help tips in pubs (7)
I believe the answer is:
indians
'meals commonly' is the definition.
(informal term for Indian meals)
'help tips in pubs' is the wordplay.
'help' becomes 'aid' (synonyms).
'tips' is a reversal indicator (I've seen 'tipped' mean this).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'pubs' becomes 'inns' (an inn is a type of pub).
'aid' reversed gives 'dia'.
'dia' put inside 'inns' is 'INDIANS'.
(Other definitions for indians that I've seen before include "People" , "Natives of Delhi" , "Workers'" , "Denizens of Delhi, say" .)