Delhi’s Moti Mahal vs Daryaganj: The battle of the original Butter Chicken

The story dates back to undivided India. According to Moti Mahal, Butter Chicken was invented by their founder Kundan Lal Gujral (1902-97) in Peshawar as a way to use the dry and unsold tandoori chicken. Back in those days, you couldn’t refrigerate food items. So, he came up with the genius idea of creating a basic gravy with tomatoes, cream and some spices to immerse the leftover tandoori chicken pieces in it, helping them regain moisture and turn palatable again. That gave birth to Butter Chicken. When India was partitioned, Gujral moved to Delhi and so did Moti Mahal, with Butter Chicken and tandoori chicken in tow.

Daryaganj restaurant has another version and it goes like this: Butter Chicken was invented at a restaurant named Moti Mahal in Delhi’s Daryaganj. It was by the trio Kundan Lal Jaggi, Kundan Lal Gujral and Thakur Dass who fled Peshawar in northwest Pakistan for Delhi after Partition. A few months after opening, a busload of refugees came late to the restaurant in search of a meal, but there were only a few dry tandoori chicken pieces left. So, Kundan Lal Jaggi (1924-2018) quickly whipped up a gravy using fresh butter, tomatoes and various spices and dunked the smokey tandoori chicken pieces into it. The dish became hugely popular and the restaurant a landmark in the city. Late Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru became a patron, and former US President Richard Nixon even stopped by for a meal. While Gujral’s family still owns the brand Moti Mahal and has franchises all over the world, Jaggi’s family opened Daryaganj Restaurant at multiple locations in Delhi and Gurugram.

Subsequently, the Butter Chicken migrated to the West with immigrant restaurateurs, and is now as popular in their adopted countries as it is in India.

The Butter Chicken ownership dispute is now being fought in the Delhi High Court which will soon decide which of the two famous restaurants in Delhi, Moti Mahal or Daryaganj, can claim to the culinary invention of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani.

Let the public decide

Butter chicken has been one of the most-searched Indian dishes globally. (Photo: Unsplash)

While the court has listed the matter for further hearing on May 29, food historian Kurush Dalal feels it’s a non-issue. “It’s basically Moti Mahal’s IP and recipe which the Daryaganj guys are honing in on. It’s basically about business and marketing. Butter Chicken now is universally representative of Indian cuisine and they want a slice of the action from the dish that they were responsible in some way or the other for creating. But Moti Mahal shouldn’t be making a big issue of it. It would have been more fun if the people at Moti Mahal laughed at the claim instead of dragging them to court to protect their IP. There are thousands of stalls across the country that make Butter Chicken. Who all are they going to sue? Also, butter and chicken are two words that can’t be copyrighted. The court should just throw the case out. Let the public decide.”

Moreover, there is no ‘one’ recipe for Butter Chicken believes Dalal. “The dish can have colour or no colour, tandoori chicken or plain chicken, char magaz (a blend of four seeds) or cashew paste, ketchup or tomato purée. In fact, there was a restaurant in Pune that made a really spicy version of the Butter Chicken with shredded tandoori chicken but with tutti frutti on top which completely turned my guts,” he recalls.

Decoding the deliciousness of Butter Chicken

Butter chicken is characterised by its velvety tomato-based gravy. (Photo: Pexels)

No matter who invented the dish, Butter Chicken is no doubt a package of perfection. Unlike some other bold and spicy curries, this delightfully comforting and insanely delicious dish has a delicate mixture of spices and the perfect balance of three key flavours — tart, creamy and spice. The appeal of Butter Chicken lies in its ingredients believes Dalal. “Everything that works is there in this dish — fat, heat, spice, boneless chicken… The onions give it umami, the tomatoes add sourness and take the umami to the next level. It’s a win win.”

Today this humble dish by Punjabi refugees has transcended boundaries and reached the globe. While butter chicken rotis are a culinary craze in Canada, New York can’t have enough of butter chicken tacos. New Zealand loves its butter chicken so much that they once tried to squeeze the dish into their McDonald’s menu in the form of “butter chicken pie”. Interestingly, Kiwis ordered more than 1,300 butter chickens in 89 days from a restaurant soon after the lockdown ended.

Butter Chicken is like Xerox, believes Dalal. “No one says facsimile. It’s Xerox, whatever the machine might be. Even government forms say ‘attach Xerox copy’. Modi Xerox tried very hard to say that other people can’t use the word Xerox. But it failed. Similarly it’s too late for Moti Mahal now. The Butter Chicken is out of the bag. Let a million butter chickens graze the tables of the world. More honour to Butter Chicken.”