Paan is a much-loved after-dinner staple in most parts of India. Usually made from betel nut leaf and with a variety of fillings like herbs, spices and tobacco, it is part mouth freshener, part dessert and part digestive. But despite the general love for paan, netizens have been left baffled about the latest bizarre food trend to hit social media – Paan Masala Omelette.
In a viral video posted to X (formerly Twitter) by user @MhaskarChief, we’re treated to the process of a street food vendor tipping two packets of Rajnigandha Flavoured Pan Masala into a pot with some eggs, whisking it together and then transferring the mixture to a tawa. It’s then topped with bread, flipped, plated and garnished with chutney, ketchup, some sliced veggies and some extra pan masala for good measure.
The resulting dish looks innocent enough but many users were outraged and took to the comments to say as much. Some users deemed it french toast seasoned with opium while others called it cancer on a plate. Overall, the reviews were definitely not favourable.
Image Credits:@MhaskarChief/X
This isn’t the first time paan has found its way into an unusual dish, and earlier this year the internet was just as perplexed by the creation of a paan dosa which was an alarming shade of lime green and filled with all the usual paan filings instead the usual masala aloo. Paan burgers have also hit the scene which featured a ‘meetha paan’ filling of chocolate, cream, almonds, barfi and more on a betel leaf and then sandwiched between burger buns.
It seems street food vendors around the country have cracked the code to get five minutes of social media fame and they’re all attempting to one-up each other in how outrageous a dish they can invent. Whether its eye-grabbing names like Fanta Maggi or the more mellow attempts like the dancing golgappa man of Jaipur, everyone is hell-bent on creating their own distinct brand. Whether these inventions actually get eaten at the end of the day is a whole other question.