Why Paneer Tikka was trending on US election day
Written By manas.joshi
Published: Nov 03, 2020, 24:35 IST | Updated: Nov 03, 2020, 24:35 IST
US Elections paneer tikka
No matter the land, food is synonymous with emotions. We throw parties when we are happy. Sometimes even eat something to make us feel better in bouts of sadness. But we are true to our salt, and quite proud of our respective culinary traditions. We are passionate about our food.
Pramila Jayapal, US Congresswoman of Indian heritage, got the taste of how strong sentiments around food are.
It started with just a tweet. Jayapal posted a photo of 'Paneer Tikka' and said that it was her comfort food.
"Compulsive, night-before-election activity: make comfort food. That’s paneer tikka tonight, in honor of electing #KamalaHarris Veep tomorrow since she just said on Instagram that her favorite North Indian food is any kind of tikka! Let’s go, people! VOTE! #BidenHarris2020" she tweeted
Compulsive, night-before-election activity: make comfort food. That’s paneer tikka tonight, in honor of electing #KamalaHarris Veep tomorrow since she just said on Instagram that her favorite North Indian food is any kind of tikka! Let’s go, people! VOTE! #BidenHarris2020 pic.twitter.com/gqyT7BotgG
But...and it's a major but! Many on Twitter disagreed with Jayapal who was saying the tasty looking dish in her tweet was 'Paneer Tikka'.
Paneer Tikka is a north Indian dish that is usually made with Indian cottage cheese along with veggies and is usually barbecued or lightly cooked and eaten from a skewer.
The dish Jayapal cooked appeared more like a curry
#PaneerTikka died a premature death in this curry https://t.co/7fOxVn3gfp
Fans of the dish were so up in arms against Jayapal's tweet that Paneer Tikka started trending. The tweets were full of sarcasm sometimes.
A user posted a picture of a spicy soup, and invited Jayapal to have what he claimed was 'kheer' an Indian sweet dish, far cry from anything spicy.
ये लो खीर खाओ pic.twitter.com/yYvAx6Q0NI
Some users were rolling eyes
who's gonna tell her that's not paneer tikka... https://t.co/mejabynS4G
Jayapal made a follow-up tweet sharing the recipe and this time, she called the dish 'Paneer Tikka Masala' instead of just 'Paneer Tikka'.
The addition of the word 'masala' took the preparation closer to resembling the one in the photo as 'Paneer Tikka Masala' is a curry dish.
By popular demand, the recipe for Paneer Tikka Masala, slightly adapted from the fabulous @twosleevers! You can either eat the tikka on its own, or add the masala (sauce) which is like a curry. Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/0tNyEZOWN4
So what do you like? Paneer Tikka or Paneer Tikka Masala?