How I Learned to Stop Hating and Respect Chicken Tikka Masala
Invented in Glasgow in the 1970s, this fake Indian dish changed the British palate.
Chicken tikka masala adorns menus all over the UK, the US, Europe—and even India.
Photographer: Cavan Images/Cavan Images RFAsma Khan has a vivid memory of the first time she encountered chicken tikka masala, the bastard child of Indian cooking and British taste. It was in 1992, and she was newly arrived in the great English university town of Cambridge, where her husband was studying law. A professor invited the young couple to dinner at an Indian restaurant, where he ordered the dish, a staple of curry houses across Britain.
“I was confused,” recalls Khan of the chunks of mildly spiced chicken, roasted and then stewed in tomatoes and cream. “I thought I knew about Indian food, but this was completely unfamiliar. I honestly thought someone in the kitchen had made a mistake.” In the Indian tradition, a tikka is ready to eat when roasted. Stewing it is superfluous, and doing that in tomatoes and cream is downright silly.