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Pan


Paul B

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Last week I was at Main and 49th, right in the heart of Little India. While my wife was having her eyebrows threaded I walked into Panwalla, a small store on Main just north of 49th. I'd never had pan before but I had read about it for years. The guy behind the counter whipped up two pans for $2.50. I brought them home and tried them: jammed the large stuffed-leaf into the side of my mouth and chewed away. Wild. A real blizzard of flavours but, in the end, a bit too sweet for me. Does anyone know another place that makes them and, perhaps, has more than one kind available?

Paul B

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Paul B.

I am really not all that familiar with Indian food apart from the regular options like curries, naan, tandoori meats and the like.

What is "pan"? I am curious after reading your description.

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Last week I was at Main and 49th, right in the heart of Little India.  While my wife was having her eyebrows threaded I walked into Panwalla, a small store on Main just north of 49th.  I'd never had pan before but I had read about it for years.  The guy behind the counter whipped up two pans for $2.50.  I brought them home and tried them: jammed the large stuffed-leaf into the side of my mouth and chewed away.  Wild.  A real blizzard of flavours but, in the end, a bit too sweet for me.  Does anyone know another place that makes them and, perhaps, has more than one kind available?

Since the pan maker (walla) is making them on the spot you can just tell him that you'd like it less sweet and he should be able to accomodate you.

Can you pee in the ocean?

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paan is more commonly anglicized with two As, i think. but enjoy it in moderation, because there's a direct link between long-time paan use and oral cancer...

having said that, i have Pakistani friends who remember all the old ladies and their bright-red stained mouths from eating paan. it really does seem to be--perhaps because of class implications, the oral cancer thing, and goodness knows what else--falling into an old-time thing one doesn't see much any more.

edit to add: Wikipedia on paan: click here...

Edited by gus_tatory (log)

"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the ocean."

--Isak Dinesen

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And here's a not particularly great photo of pan/paan from a local restaurant here in Atlanta (Madras Saravana Bhavan). These come wrapped in foil, and are sold at the counter. They're often sold out, so I assume they're made off site, but are clearly pretty fresh. There's no size reference in the photo, but the triangle's about 2" (5 cm) per side.

gallery_11280_820_239390.jpg

These are sweet, and I like them that way.

Can you pee in the ocean?

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Thanks for the info. For the non-pan (paan?) person, pan is a combination of savoury and sweet items wrapped in a leaf (usually, I think, a lime leaf). You chew the whole thing and extract the juices then spit it out. Traditionally it contains betel nut, but that is a controlled substance in Canada. The ones I bought had some chewing tobacco in them.

Anyway, I will go back and ask for them to be a bit less sweet.

Thanks for the advice.

Paul B

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You chew the whole thing and extract the juices then spit it out.

staining whatever object the spit hits ... When I was India a number of years ago, I remember some public discussion on banning pan because its use resulted in the defacement of property. I can't imagine anyone ever took that suggestion seriously at a political level, but when you check into your hotel, only to find a wall of your room coated in blotchy pan juice it didn't seem entirely unreasonable. The one time I tried it, the betel variety, my teeth were stained for days - I looked like a vampire. That said, it did have a plesant taste/effect.

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