The Debated Scottish Origins Of Chicken Tikka Masala

One might assume that chicken tikka masala originated somewhere in Asia, perhaps in northern India, where rich tomato gravies with swirls of thick cream are common. But much like the competing stories surrounding its close cousin, butter chicken, chicken tikka masala's roots are also a cause of much contention. 

According to a popular theory, the curry originated thousands of miles away from Asia, in Scotland. The legend goes that a hungry off-duty bus driver went knocking at the doors of a local restaurant in Glasgow called Shish Mahal in 1971. However, the chicken tikka that he ordered was too dry for his liking. Hoping to please his disgruntled customer, the restaurant's chef, Ali Ahmed Aslam, popped open a can of condensed tomato soup and drizzled it all over the meat along with more spices and cream.

So chicken tikka masala was born: A dish made by simmering a cream and tomato gravy with pieces of chicken tikka (skewers of boneless chicken that are marinated in yogurt and spices and then grilled in a tandoor, which is a clay oven). The curry has since become the national dish of England, beating the likes of beloved fish & chips in popularity. In fact, there was even a campaign to secure the European Union's protected geographical status for chicken tikka masala so that Glasgow would forever be recognized as its birthplace. However, that never came to fruition because chicken tikka masala's place of origin is far more obscure.

In 2001, the UK's former foreign secretary, Robin Cook, made a speech where he famously called chicken tikka masala a "true British national dish," noted The Guardian. Though some firmly agree with Cook's claim, his statement also caused outrage among those who don't believe that to be the entire truth. 

Among them is Zaeemuddin Ahmad, the chef of Karim's — a legendary eatery in Delhi that was established in 1913 by the last Mughal emperor's cook. He claims that the dish's roots go back to the Mughal era and that the recipe for chicken tikka masala has been passed down in his family through ancestors who worked as royal chefs during this time. Delhi's street food expert Rahul Verma even claims to have eaten the dish in Northern India in the 1970s, further suggesting that the curry already existed in the country. However, he believes it originated in Punjab and not during the Mughal period. 

Another theory that adds to the confusion — that chicken tikka masala's origin traces back to a recipe for shahi chicken masala published in Balbir Singh's 1961 book "Indian Cookery," a decade before its reported invention in Glasgow. However, some experts offer a much simpler explanation of overlapping inventions: rather than crediting a single entity, chicken tikka masala could just be a dish that was invented in multiple places at the same time, meaning every claim and theory may have some kernel of truth to it.