Is chicken tikka masala British? Tracing the origin of the dish amid row over TasteAtlas' ranking

Sept. 2, 2024, 2:27 p.m.

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Is chicken tikka masala a British dish? The question gained the spotlight after TasteAtlas released its latest list of ‘50 best chicken dishes around the world’, placing a flag of the United Kingdom in front of chicken tikka masala.

The list featured four Indian chicken dishes, with butter chicken at number four, tikka at number six, Chicken 65 at number 10, and tandoori chicken at number 18. However, the inclusion of chicken tikka masala as a UK specialty sparked confusion among Indian food enthusiasts.

Advertisement A user questioned, “How come chicken tikka masala became British, look at the name itself!! Does it sound British to you??”

Another wrote, “Pretty sure it was created by east asian folk who lived in the UK. The place of origin is the UK but culturally it’s East Asian/Indian.”

The origin of the beloved chicken tikka masala has been the subject of much debate for years. Let's explore the story behind this dish.

What is chicken tikka masala?

Chef and writer Sadaf Hussain explained in the Indian Express in 2022 that the term 'tikka,' which means 'bite-sized' meat, was introduced to the Indian subcontinent during the reign of Mughal emperor Babur.

Chicken tikka is a popular dish in northern India and Pakistan. It features marinated chicken, seasoned with chili powder and yogurt, and cooked in a tandoor oven.

Chicken tikka masala comprises small pieces of roasted chicken, served with a rich curry sauce.

How was chicken tikka masala invented?

Advertisement Ali Ahmed Aslam, a chef of Pakistani origin in Glasgow, Scotland, who passed away in December 2022, claimed to have made the world's first chicken tikka masala.

In a 2009 interview, he said he created the dish at his restaurant Shish Mahal in Glasgow in 1972 when a customer mentioned his chicken tikka was too dry.

Aslam, who immigrated from Pakistan as a young boy, told AFP that the customer requested some sauce, but he went a step further. The restaurant owner added the meat to a yogurt-based tomato sauce. And so, chicken tikka masala as we know it today was born.

Ahmed Aslam Ali, the owner of the Shish Mahal restaurant in Glasgow, is pictured with a plate of chicken tikka masala in his restaurant, on July 29, 2009. File Photo/AFP Shortly after, chicken tikka masala gained popularity in most British restaurants. In 2001, the meal surpassed the British culinary staple of fish and chips as the UK’s favorite dish, according to CNN.

Advertisement At the time, Robin Cook, the UK’s late foreign minister, called chicken tikka masala “a truly British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it perfectly exemplifies how Britain absorbs and adapts external influences.”

“Chicken tikka is an Indian dish. The masala sauce was added to accommodate British preferences for meat served in gravy,” he explained.

“Embracing multiculturalism as a positive force for our economy and society will have significant implications for our understanding of what it means to be British.”

In 2009, a Scottish Member of Parliament sought European Union Protected Designation of Origin status for the curry. However, the proposal was rejected.

Advertisement Some contend that chicken tikka masala is simply a variation of Indian-origin butter chicken with a different name. According to Indian Express, Kundan Lal Jaggi and Kundan Lal Gujaral, who arrived in India following the 1947 partition, first served butter chicken in the 1950s. Their account of the dish's origins mirrored Aslam's.

Monish Gurjal, head of the esteemed Indian restaurant chain Moti Mahal, asserts that his grandfather was serving chicken tikka masala to Indian leaders as early as 1947, according to NPR.

A freshly prepared butter chicken dish adorns a table at the Moti Mahal Delux restaurant in New Delhi, January 23, 2024. File Photo/Reuters “Chicken tikka masala often acts as an introductory dish to Indian cuisine for newcomers in America,” chef Keith Sarasin remarked, as quoted by Indian Express.

Advertisement “In India, gravies came about when chilli peppers and tomatoes were brought in by the Portuguese. It wasn’t until the 17th Century that gravy-based curries were popularised for the English, by Anglo-Indian cooks. While many stories exist about the true roots of chicken tikka masala, for me, the dish being a curry makes it Indian enough," celebrity chef and TV host Ranveer Brar told South China Morning Post (SCMP) in 2020.

Another theory suggests that Bangladeshi cooks in the UK created the dish.

According to the Multicultural Handbook of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics, chicken tikka masala was developed by Bangladeshi culinary experts who immigrated to the UK in the 1960s and crafted their own dishes to please the British tastes.

Why the debate may never end

The debate may never end.

“It’s kind of like: who invented chicken noodle soup? It’s a dish that could’ve been invented by any number of people at the same time,” Leena Trivedi-Grenier, a food writer who had investigated the several origin claims, told NPR.

Trivedi-Grenier dubbed the idea that chicken tikka masala was created solely to appease British palates as “garish”. “How do you colonise and enslave an entire country for a century and then claim that one of their dishes is from your own country?”

The mystery of its origin remains unsolved. Rather than arguing about its inventor, we should simply appreciate its deliciousness.

With inputs from agencies