Paan!

Paan (or pan) has been part of the South Asian culture for thousands of years. A paan is areca nut, and/or cured tobacco and other various ingredients wrapped in a betel leaf. Many consider it to work as a mouth freshener because of the cool sensation it provides while chewing and sweet taste.

I would like to start out by saying that if you are consuming the product with tobacco, you obviously are putting your self at health risks. Tooth decay, gum damage and even oral cancer can by caused if enough tobacco is consumed.

However because paan can be made with numerous ingredients, a lot of people, like myself, who enjoy paan will consume it without tobacco. I absolutely love paan. While in India, I consume it at an almost daily base. The variety of paans has increased incredibly in the recent years. The most common paan, is the the “metha” paan.

Metha paan is basically a sweet paan. It usually does not contain any tobacco, but of course it can be added by request. Any average person in India has consumed at least one metha paan in their lifetime. It is a very normal thing to eat paan. Some areas within Indai the paan consumption is very high.

Dilli I would argue it a bit above average in overall paan consumption in India. Because it is a metropolitan city and host a lot of people of other states, paan is readily available at almost all locations. Also, because it is such a simple item you will find many tiny local shops serving paans. I’ve had paan from locations no bigger then a 3×5 square foot area.

Dilli is known for its food and the variations it can provide. Paan too is available at a very wide variety. In tha past years, various flavored paan have taken the city by storm. It has led to few shops to gain recognition quickly.

My favorite shop is Shukla’s Paan Palace. The shop is open in various locations around Dilli. I am fortunate enough to have one located just 5 minutes from my house in Dilli. It’s open till late night, so my friends and I often find ourselves grabbing a paan after dinner.

Shukla offers many types of paans. Shukla was smart and innovative enough to introduce novelty paans into the market. Like I mentioned earlier, paan has been in the South Asian culture for thousands of years. It has been the same for years, with little to no varioations. There would usually be two types of paans; with or without tobacco (of course there was variation within these two categories, but not huge differences). Shukla took the concept of paan and modernized it. He started to offer novelty paan flavors.

Novelty flavors include chocolate, butterscotch, “panch mewa,” “chuski” and a few others. No one had ever heard of a chocolate paan before. When I heard of such a paan, it sounded very dubious to me. However, when I had the paan I was blown away. When I went and ordered the paan, Shukla himself was present at the moment. He took out a paan for a refrigerator. I asked him why it was in their and he said it so the chocolate doesn’t melt. The chocolate paan is utterly divine. The combination of an original paan mixed with some choclate is simple amazing. Similar could be said for the butterscotch paan. If you’re a fan of butterscotch, yu would love this paan as it has only only butterscotch syrup, but huge pieces of butterscotch as well.

What I consider to the ultimate novelty paan is the “chuski” paan. Chuski paan, is a snow cone with in a paan. Needless to say the paan is HUGE. It requires you to open up wide. And because there is ice inside the paan it leaves you speechless, until the ice beings to melt.

Shukla Paan Palace capitalized on a great opportunity He has made a name for himself. He started out at a small location and has now spread all over Dilli. He is invited by celebrities to serve at their events. You will find photos of him inside the shop feeding paan to well known celebrities. I was fortunate enough to have Shukla serve at my brothers wedding last year. He said he usually doesn’t do such events, but made the exception this time. He came to serve the paans himself by the end of the night.

I’d like to leave you guys with a video of myself enjoying a chuski paan. Enjoy!