Fish & Chips, Bangers ‘n Mash, Shepherd’s Pie, Toad in the Hole – if you thought one of these British classics would be the UK’s national dish, think again. It’s Chicken Tikka Masala – a dish that’s 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…

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 restaurant, located in the west end of Glasgow, Scotland. Pakistani-Scottish chef, Ali Ahmed Aslam, is largely credited for its creation…

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The origins of chicken tikka masala

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 – many Scottish dishes are often accompanied by gravy.

Ali happened to have a tin of Campbell’s 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.

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 ‘butter chicken.’ To fuel the fire, a recipe for Shahi chicken masala was recorded in Balbir Singh’s 1961 cookbook, Indian Cookery.

Safe to say, when it comes to pinning down the exact origins of the dish, the crowd remains divided. Some reckon it’s proudly Glaswegian by association, while others argue that it’s essentially a mash-up between chicken tikka and murgh makhani, making it Indian/Bengali.

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The Legend of Babur

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’s undoubtedly native to South Asian cuisine.

To begin with, the tandoor oven dates to 2600 B.C. The history of chicken tikka masala itself is quite interesting – 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.

Today, tikka masala fans enjoy the dish all over the world – with or without sauce. Aslam even pushed for it to gain Protected Designation of Origin status, but his efforts were unsuccessful.

According to a 2009 statistic, approximately 2.5 billion pounds of chicken tikka masala is consumed per year by Brits – we imagine that number has doubled since. In 2021, British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, declared that chicken tikka masala is the country’s ‘true national dish.’ We may never ascertain the origins of chicken tikka masala, but we do know is that it’s delicious!

Try this Chicken Tikka Masala recipe.