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<\/p>\nFish & Chips, Bangers \u2018n Mash, Shepherd\u2019s Pie, Toad in the Hole \u2013 if you thought one of these British classics would be the UK\u2019s national dish, think again. It\u2019s Chicken Tikka Masala \u2013 a dish that\u2019s been savoured time and time again, not only in India but throughout shabby London pubs and ritzy restaurants. But somewhere along the line, the origins of this smoky and comforting dish got lost in the sauce…<\/p>\n
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Like many traditional dishes and desserts, the origins of Chicken Tikka Masala are widely debated, and beyond that, one might wonder how this South Asian dish was claimed by the Brits. One of the legends suggest that it was invented in the 1970s at the Shish Mahal<\/a> restaurant, located in the west end of Glasgow, Scotland. Pakistani-Scottish chef, Ali Ahmed Aslam, is largely credited for its creation\u2026<\/p>\n According to the popular legend, Ali was working at his restaurant (then owned by his father, Noor Mohammed) one evening, when a customer ordered a plate of chicken tikka and complained that it was a tad dry \u2013 many Scottish dishes are often accompanied by gravy.<\/p>\n Ali happened to have a tin of Campbell\u2019s tomato soup and decided to infuse it with spices, make a creamy sauce and add the chicken tikka. The customer was pleased with the revamped version and told friends. Not long after, word spread and the dish became popular.<\/p>\n While the story is widely believed, food historians, Colleen and Peter Grove, disagree. Some believe that chicken tikka masala was derived from another popular North Indian dish, murgh makhani, better known as \u2018butter chicken.\u2019 To fuel the fire, a recipe for Shahi chicken masala was recorded in Balbir Singh’s 1961 cookbook, Indian Cookery.<\/p>\n Safe to say, when it comes to pinning down the exact origins of the dish, the crowd remains divided. Some reckon it\u2019s proudly Glaswegian by association, while others argue that it\u2019s essentially a mash-up between chicken tikka and murgh makhani<\/a>, making it Indian\/Bengali.<\/p>\n If you don’t know what chicken tikka masala is, it’s a dish consisting of meat marinated in yoghurt and traditional Indian spices, which is then cooked in a clay tandoor oven, imparting a characteristically delicious, smoky flavour. As much as tikka chicken is thought to have originated in Great Britain, it\u2019s undoubtedly native to South Asian cuisine.<\/p>\n To begin with, the tandoor oven dates to 2600 B.C. The history of chicken tikka masala itself is quite interesting \u2013 apparently, descendant of Genghis Khan and founding emperor of the Mughal dynasty, Babur, was a notoriously picky eater. In fear of choking on chicken bones, he instructed his Punjabi chefs to bone the chicken before cooking it in the tandoor oven, which then became a popular dish.<\/p>\n Today, tikka masala fans enjoy the dish all over the world \u2013 with or without sauce. Aslam even pushed for it to gain Protected Designation of Origin status, but his efforts were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n According to a 2009 statistic, approximately 2.5 billion pounds of chicken tikka masala is consumed per year by Brits \u2013 we imagine that number has doubled since. In 2001, British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, declared that chicken tikka masala is the country\u2019s \u2018true national dish.\u2019 We may never ascertain the origins of chicken tikka masala, but we do know is that it\u2019s delicious!<\/p>\n
\nThe origins of chicken tikka masala<\/h4>\n
\nThe Legend of Babur<\/h4>\n
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