Ali Ahmed Aslam, the inventor of the famous curry and Britain’s favorite meal, chicken tikka masala, has died in Glasgow, Scotland, at the age of 77.
Aslam was born in Pakistan before moving to Glasgow as a child. He opened his restaurant, the Shish Mahal, in the city’s West End in 1964.
The original myth of chicken tikka masala is that once in the 70s, a customer complained that a chicken dish was too dry. In response, Aslam was inspired by the food he had recently eaten to relieve a stomach ulcer: Campbell’s condensed tomato soup.
By combining canned tomato soup with spices and chicken, the chicken tikka masala was born.
“Since then, we’ve been cooking it with a sauce made with yogurt, cream and spices,” Aslam told AFP in 2009.
somewhat uncertain whether Aslam and the Shish Mahal are the true authors of the dish. There is a suggestion that it was first created in Balbir Singh’s Shahi Chicken Masala recipe in her 1961 cookbook.
The general story, however, is that it was invented to cater to the British palate.
Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, MP for Glasgow from 1997 to 2010 and twice acting governor of Punjab, has supported chicken tikka masala as a unique glass-Norwegian dish.
Sarwar filed a motion in the British Parliament to place the court under the legal protection of other regional courts such as Melton Mowbray Pork Pies.
The application for protected designation of origin status in the EU was unsuccessful, but the myth that Aslam was the inventor of the venerated dish lives on.
In a survey from 2011, chicken tikka masala was named Britain’s most popular dish. Other popular dishes mentioned in the survey included stir-fries and fish and chips. At the time, the result was touted as an example of British multiculturalism.
And it all comes from the mind of Aslam, whose restaurant, the Shish Mahal, closed for 48 hours in honor of his death.
“The restaurant was his life,” said his nephew Andleeb Ahmed. “He had lunch there every day at noon.”
“The chefs made him a curry,” he said, remembering that he visited his perfectionist uncle in hospital for Christmas last year, who threw him the line at the end that he “should be at work.”
Ali Ahmed Aslam, the inventor of the famous curry and Britain’s favorite meal, chicken tikka masala, has died in Glasgow, Scotland, at the age of 77.
Aslam was born in Pakistan before moving to Glasgow as a child. He opened his restaurant, the Shish Mahal, in the city’s West End in 1964.
The original myth of chicken tikka masala is that once in the 70s, a customer complained that a chicken dish was too dry. In response, Aslam was inspired by the food he had recently eaten to relieve a stomach ulcer: Campbell’s condensed tomato soup.
By combining canned tomato soup with spices and chicken, the chicken tikka masala was born.
“Since then, we’ve been cooking it with a sauce made with yogurt, cream and spices,” Aslam told AFP in 2009.
somewhat uncertain whether Aslam and the Shish Mahal are the true authors of the dish. There is a suggestion that it was first created in Balbir Singh’s Shahi Chicken Masala recipe in her 1961 cookbook.
The general story, however, is that it was invented to cater to the British palate.
Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, MP for Glasgow from 1997 to 2010 and twice acting governor of Punjab, has supported chicken tikka masala as a unique glass-Norwegian dish.
Sarwar filed a motion in the British Parliament to place the court under the legal protection of other regional courts such as Melton Mowbray Pork Pies.
The application for protected designation of origin status in the EU was unsuccessful, but the myth that Aslam was the inventor of the venerated dish lives on.
In a survey from 2011, chicken tikka masala was named Britain’s most popular dish. Other popular dishes mentioned in the survey included stir-fries and fish and chips. At the time, the result was touted as an example of British multiculturalism.
And it all comes from the mind of Aslam, whose restaurant, the Shish Mahal, closed for 48 hours in honor of his death.
“The restaurant was his life,” said his nephew Andleeb Ahmed. “He had lunch there every day at noon.”
“The chefs made him a curry,” he said, remembering that he visited his perfectionist uncle in hospital for Christmas last year, who threw him the line at the end that he “should be at work.”