Chicken Tikka Masala
Locals campaigned for Glasgow to be named the official home of Chicken Tikka Masala.
Key words
- Speculate: to guess possible answers to a question when you do not have enough information to be certain
A spokesperson declined to speculate on the cause of the train crash.
- Convinced: certain
I'm convinced that she is lying.
- Coin: to invent a new word or expression, or to use one in a particular way for the first time
Allen Ginsberg coined the term "flower power".
- Colonial: involving a period of political control by a more powerful country
Turkey was once an important colonial power.
- Gravy: a sauce made from meat juices
Which do you prefer, onion gravy or red wine gravy?
Read the article to find the answers
- What was considered the 'Jewel in the crown'?
- Where is Chicken Tikka Masala said to have originated?
- Who coined the word 'curry'?
- Where did the word 'tikka' come from?
The British Empire
The British Empire began with the overseas trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and grew to include large areas of North America, Australasia, Africa and Asia. India was considered the 'Jewel in the Crown', where William Carey famously helped to abolish the practice of Sati, and his arch-enemy, the East India Company, famously attempted to ban the spread of Christianity, mirroring the ivory traders in Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness.
India was divided into three parts after independence from the British, but many things held the nations together. One of which is a type of chicken known as Butter Chicken in India and Chicken Tikka Masala in Britain. The inventors of these two dishes came from what is now Pakistan.
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Tikka Masala is chicken served in a rich, creamy curry sauce. Some people speculate that it is the British version of a curry, while others are convinced that it is simply Indian Butter Chicken by another name. Chicken Tikka Masala is thought to have been created by Ali Ahmed Aslam, a Pakistani-born chef in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ali claimed that he came up with the idea for Chicken Tikka Masala in 1972 when a customer found his Chicken Tikka dry, so he added the chicken to a masala, and the dish soon became the most popular Indian meal in British restaurants.
Ali's story makes the meal a Scottish-Pakistani dish, but in India it was another Pakistani chef, who had arrived in Delhi after Partition, who first served Butter Chicken in the 1950's. The story of the dish's invention is similar to Ali's.
A famous Indian chef and author says in one of her recipe videos, "I never wanted to put Chicken Tikka Masala in my cookbook because I felt it was not an Indian dish, it was something invented in Britain."
Tikka & Curry Origins
The word "tikka", meaning bite-sized meat, was introduced to the Indian subcontinent from Persia, and many would argue that the word "curry" was coined by the British during the colonial period to describe all Indian gravy-based dishes.
Discussion questions
- Do you have any questions about any of the vocabulary or grammar in this article?
- Have you ever had Chicken Tikka Masala?
- What's your favourite curry?
- Are there any famous dishes in your national cuisine that originated elsewhere?
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