Zürcher Nachrichten - Chicken tikka masala inventor dies aged 77

EUR -
AED 3.890841
AFN 71.749675
ALL 98.148629
AMD 409.298146
ANG 1.899982
AOA 966.614534
ARS 1057.69071
AUD 1.626972
AWG 1.904101
AZN 1.80471
BAM 1.955791
BBD 2.12858
BDT 125.979429
BGN 1.954618
BHD 0.3993
BIF 3113.415288
BMD 1.059305
BND 1.417307
BOB 7.284967
BRL 6.088884
BSD 1.054185
BTN 88.957097
BWP 14.382799
BYN 3.449584
BYR 20762.381954
BZD 2.12498
CAD 1.485003
CDF 3040.205874
CHF 0.935642
CLF 0.037348
CLP 1030.545427
CNY 7.666726
CNH 7.66303
COP 4657.764972
CRC 536.897568
CUC 1.059305
CUP 28.071588
CVE 110.264501
CZK 25.2773
DJF 187.728264
DKK 7.459775
DOP 63.519712
DZD 141.434215
EGP 52.388255
ERN 15.889578
ETB 130.501909
FJD 2.402133
FKP 0.836128
GBP 0.835538
GEL 2.886604
GGP 0.836128
GHS 16.814924
GIP 0.836128
GMD 75.210376
GNF 9084.958848
GTQ 8.144963
GYD 220.559001
HKD 8.243359
HNL 26.629879
HRK 7.556298
HTG 138.489373
HUF 406.359853
IDR 16746.661864
ILS 3.954995
IMP 0.836128
INR 89.398738
IQD 1381.080707
IRR 44588.803307
ISK 144.499542
JEP 0.836128
JMD 167.320822
JOD 0.751155
JPY 163.210859
KES 136.788279
KGS 91.639576
KHR 4259.980704
KMF 492.311855
KPW 953.37428
KRW 1473.678884
KWD 0.325695
KYD 0.878488
KZT 526.017617
LAK 23160.895089
LBP 94406.572371
LKR 307.148609
LRD 193.449124
LSL 19.092814
LTL 3.127853
LVL 0.640763
LYD 5.148952
MAD 10.555352
MDL 19.155913
MGA 4927.931158
MKD 61.539826
MMK 3440.581974
MNT 3599.519019
MOP 8.452962
MRU 42.03281
MUR 49.252555
MVR 16.37726
MWK 1828.091719
MXN 21.407769
MYR 4.733507
MZN 67.716106
NAD 19.092814
NGN 1766.6986
NIO 38.799824
NOK 11.657919
NPR 142.331355
NZD 1.798664
OMR 0.407854
PAB 1.054195
PEN 4.007182
PGK 4.240981
PHP 62.151029
PKR 292.863109
PLN 4.321466
PYG 8216.923996
QAR 3.844783
RON 4.976511
RSD 116.983314
RUB 105.663248
RWF 1448.207111
SAR 3.976658
SBD 8.865876
SCR 14.723756
SDG 637.159357
SEK 11.563275
SGD 1.418457
SHP 0.836128
SLE 23.993433
SLL 22213.105444
SOS 602.502959
SRD 37.504706
STD 21925.478947
SVC 9.224871
SYP 2661.535948
SZL 19.085733
THB 36.671042
TJS 11.217049
TMT 3.707568
TND 3.332085
TOP 2.481002
TRY 36.651812
TTD 7.156968
TWD 34.362276
TZS 2811.376951
UAH 43.66069
UGX 3870.982466
USD 1.059305
UYU 45.209795
UZS 13506.938818
VES 48.444394
VND 26901.055598
VUV 125.762842
WST 2.957147
XAF 655.950933
XAG 0.033699
XAU 0.000404
XCD 2.862825
XDR 0.801989
XOF 655.947837
XPF 119.331742
YER 264.667734
ZAR 19.009618
ZMK 9535.007948
ZMW 29.070731
ZWL 341.095843
  • SCS

    -0.0300

    13.2

    -0.23%

  • CMSC

    0.0540

    24.624

    +0.22%

  • CMSD

    -0.0500

    24.39

    -0.21%

  • BCC

    1.4500

    141.54

    +1.02%

  • RIO

    1.1400

    62.12

    +1.84%

  • JRI

    0.1300

    13.23

    +0.98%

  • GSK

    0.3400

    33.69

    +1.01%

  • NGG

    0.1500

    62.9

    +0.24%

  • RBGPF

    59.7500

    59.75

    +100%

  • BTI

    0.2900

    36.68

    +0.79%

  • BCE

    0.4100

    27.23

    +1.51%

  • AZN

    0.1600

    63.39

    +0.25%

  • RYCEF

    0.0800

    6.93

    +1.15%

  • BP

    0.4400

    29.42

    +1.5%

  • VOD

    0.1500

    8.92

    +1.68%

  • RELX

    0.5900

    45.04

    +1.31%

Chicken tikka masala inventor dies aged 77
Chicken tikka masala inventor dies aged 77 / Photo: Andy Buchanan - AFP

Chicken tikka masala inventor dies aged 77

A chef from Glasgow, who claims to have invented the curry dish chicken tikka masala, has died at the age of 77, a family member told AFP on Wednesday.

Text size:

Ahmed Aslam Ali, who invented the dish by improvising a sauce made from a tin of tomato soup at his restaurant Shish Mahal in the 1970s, died on Monday morning, his nephew Andleeb Ahmed said.

"He would eat lunch in his restaurant every day," Ahmed said.

"The restaurant was his life. The chefs would make curry for him. I am not sure if he often ate chicken tikka masala."

Ahmed said his uncle was a perfectionist and highly driven.

"Last year he was unwell and I went to see him in hospital on Christmas Day," Ahmed said.

"His head was slumped down. I stayed for 10 minutes. Before I left, he lifted head and said you should be at work."

In an interview with AFP in 2009, Ali said he came up with the recipe for chicken tikka masala after a customer complained that his chicken tikka was too dry.

"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'," Ali said.

"We thought we'd better cook the chicken with some sauce. So from here we cooked chicken tikka with the sauce that contains yogurt, cream, spices."

The dish went on to become the most popular dish in British restaurants.

Although it is difficult to prove definitively where the dish originated, it is generally regarded as a curry adapted to suit Western tastes.

Ali said the chicken tikka masala is prepared according to customer taste.

"Usually they don't take hot curry, that's why we cook it with yogurt and cream," he said.

Supporters of the campaign to grant the dish protected status point to the fact that former foreign minister Robin Cook once described it as a crucial part of British culture.

"Chicken tikka masala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences," Cook said in a 2001 speech on British identity.

Ali, originally from Punjab province in Pakistan, moved with his family to Glasgow as a young boy before opening Shish Mahal in Glasgow's west end in 1964.

He said he wanted the dish to be a gift to Glasgow, to give something back to his adopted city.

In 2009, he campaigned unsuccessfully for the dish to be granted "Protected Designation of Origin" status by the European Union, alongside the likes of Champagne, Parma Ham and Greek Feta cheese.

MP Mohammad Sarwar tabled a motion in the House of Commons in 2009 calling for EU protection.

Ali leaves a wife, three sons and two daughters.

L.Zimmermann--NZN