Over the years there have been many wacky creations to flood the on the internet around Indian fusion street food. Things like Idli Popsicles, Chocolate Vada Pav or Mountain Dew Jalebi, it seems like the country’s street vendors are on their own crusade into the unknown, with a mission to confuse and anger as many netizens as they can. Recently a video has surfaced that has once again sparked debate about how far is too far when it comes to experimenting with food – Pani Puri Tava Ice Cream.
The Instagram video shared by user @foodie_bhuro has amassed over 500 thousand views an caused a stir among the internet’s foodies. The clip shows an Ahmedabad street food vendor at Royal Live Tava Ice Cream placing three puris stuffed with filling onto the cold metal surface, pouring cream over the top and then employing the cold-stone rolled ice cream method to combine all the ingredients into a smooth ‘ice cream’, with a splash of caramel sauce for good measure. It’s then scraped into four rolls and served with a dry puri and another drizzle of caramel.
Despite the popularity of the video, it seems like most people are vehemently opposed to the concept. One commenter asserts, “Non sense recipe.. let it icecream and paani puri two things separate” while another says “Duniya ka ant tay hai (The end of the world has surely come).”
The concept itself isn’t that out of the box since rolled ice creams – which are thought to have originated in Thailand around 2009 – have been a common feature on the Indian dessert scene for many years. But this audacious flavour combination is definitely giving people pause for thought.
For better or for worse, these crazy street food combinations continue to disgust, fascinate and amuse viewers with their daring antics and unthinkable flavours, earning smaller businesses their moment in the limelight. So although Pani Puri Tava Ice Cream may be the flavour of the week, we’re sure it won’t be long until someone dreams up something even more bizarre to make us wonder at.