Ali Ahmed Aslam, owner of Shish Mahal restaurant in Glasgow died on Monday.
If there’s one Indian dish all the UK knows and loves, it’s undoubtedly chicken tikka masala. Ali Ahmed Aslam, the chef supposedly credited with inventing the dish, passed away at the age of 77.
According to a report by the UK’s The Guardian, Ali Ahmed Aslam’s death on Monday was announced by his Shish Mahal restaurant in Glasgow. The restaurant also shut its doors for two days as a mark of respect. His funeral was held at Glasgow Central Mosque on Tuesday, open to the public.
A Pakistani-born immigrant to Glasgow, Aslam opened Shish Mahal in 1964. The story goes, according to an interview with the AFP news agency, that the chicken tikka masala came about in the 1970s.
Speaking to AFP News, he said: “Chicken tikka masala was invented in this restaurant. We used to make chicken tikka, and one day a customer said, ‘I’d take some sauce with that, this is a bit dry.’
“We thought we’d better cook the chicken with some sauce.
“So from here we cooked chicken tikka with the sauce that contains yoghurt, cream, spices. It’s a dish prepared according to our customer’s taste. Usually they don’t take hot curry – that’s why we cook it with yoghurt and cream.”
Such is the love for the creamy and tangy curry; that Mohammad Sarwar, Labour MP for Glasgow Central in 2009, called for the city to be officially recognised as the home of the chicken tikka masala. However, the bid proved unsuccessful, with several other establishments around the UK also claiming to have invented the popular dish.
While it’s difficult to prove definitively where the dish originated, it is generally regarded as a curry adapted to suit Western tastes. And what isn’t hard to prove is Aslam’s love for the dish, campaigned unsuccessfully for the dish to be granted “Protected Designation of Origin” status by the European Union.
Aslam is survived by a wife, three sons and two daughters.
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