THE BATTLE FOR BUTTER CHICKEN

Jaggi and Gujral also decided to leave their home in Peshawar, and after a tiring and dangerous journey, they arrived in Delhi. Once settled, the friends opened the Moti Mahal restaurant, whose name translates from Hindi as ‘Palace of Pearls’. The restaurant initially appeared very modest, with a few tables, a counter, and a tall clay tandoor oven in which bread and chickens were roasted.

Back in Peshawar, however, one of the owners—and this is where the current conflict has its origins—wondered what to do with the unsold pieces of tandoori chicken. While freshly cooked tandoori chickens were delicious, they became dry and unappealing when left over, and the restaurant was incurring losses.

To solve the problem, it is said that the owner experimented extensively with recipes to use up the chicken meat. We don't know the details of his (or someone else’s) initial attempts, but we do know that the final experiment was a triumph. The chicken was first marinated in a flavorful yogurt mixture and spices and then simmered in a gravy made from tomatoes, cream, butter, and other spices.

In another version of the creation of this dish, it is believed that one day, a large group of refugees arrived at the restaurant in Delhi and there wasn’t enough chicken to feed them all. One of the owners grabbed some of the tandoori chicken and created the gravy right at that moment!

The dish, which became known as butter chicken, quickly became the most popular item on the restaurant's menu. The creamy tomato base added the much-needed tenderness, juiciness, and aroma to the chicken. The restaurant flourished, expanded, and soon became one of the most famous in Delhi.

Among the restaurant's regular guests was Madhur Jaffrey, the renowned actress and food writer, who often dined there as a teenager.

Speaking of the dish, she later said, ‘Jaggi and Gujral quickly settled in Delhi. From the very beginning, they worked hard just to make ends meet. Many new flavors were introduced by the refugees. Before these talented guys arrived, no one in Delhi had ever tasted chicken in an amber-spiced sauce. Butter chicken has an absolutely unique flavor!’

As the years passed, Moti Mahal continued to thrive. It attracted the attention of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who would bring guests there and also have events, catered by them, including the then-vice president of the US, Richard Nixon, and the first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Many celebrities have sampled its delicious fare, and they were all enchanted by the impossibly tender chicken luxuriating in a creamy tomato gravy.

For seventy years now, butter chicken has remained one of the world's most beloved dishes. Even those who have never been to India appreciate it as it is served in many countries, adapted to local tastes. Butter chicken is used as a filling for tacos, a topping for burgers and pizza, and a sauce for pasta. Even McDonald's in New Zealand experimented with a butter chicken pie.

Can we imagine India without this marvelous dish? As Jaspinder NarulaiA well-known Indian singer born in 1970sings in the Bollywood film Prem Pratigyaa (Pledge of Love): ‘You're already drooling! And when I appear before you, you'll realize that I am the butter chicken.’

In 1992, however, the original Moti Mahal unfortunately pulled down its shutters for the last time because the founders’ descendants had a falling out and went their separate ways. Gujral's descendants started the Moti Mahal Delux franchise, which now has partners successfully operating in various states of India. Meanwhile, Jaggi's grandson revived the Daryaganj restaurant, whose slogan is ‘From the creators of butter chicken’—and this is where the story gets even more interesting!

Daryaganj’s slogan infuriated the owners of Moti Mahal Delux. But what really drove them over the edge was Jaggi's grandson repeating those words on the business reality show Indian Shark Tank, where he praised his creation to potential investors. As a result, the offended Gujral family mapped out a route to the nearest court.

‘You can't take away someone's legacy! This dish was invented by my grandfather when he still lived in Pakistan,’ Monish Gujral, the managing director of Moti Mahal Delux, told Reuters. His love for his grandfather was backed by a lawsuit with claims. Monish asserts that his grandfather cooked the disputed dish long before moving to India, and that Jaggi had nothing to do with it. According to him, Jaggi merely copied his grandfather's recipe!

The Gujral family is not only seeking the rights to being called the inventor of butter chicken but also demanding $240,000 in damages. Meanwhile, the Daryaganj restaurant remains confident that it was their ancestor who came up with the ingenious recipe as evidenced by the trademark registered by his enterprising descendants in 2018.

Given the slow pace of proceedings in Indian courts, the judge will not deliver a verdict today or tomorrow. At best, it will happen in six months, or it could take several years. After all, it's no small feat to review 2,752 pages of claims.

Some experts doubt that butter chicken became famous in Pakistan. For one, Peshawar is known for its juicy grilled meat, not creamy gravies. ‘And in general, this dish is still not commonly eaten in Pakistan,’ reflects Nilofer Afridi Qazi, a researcher documenting Pakistani culinary traditions. She suggests that butter chicken might have been made for British soldiers in Peshawar, which, until 1947, was a border town of the British Empire. The restaurant was located near the cantonment, and chicken in a creamy tomato gravy could theoretically have been made there to cater to British tastes.

Mohammad Taqi, a Pakistani-American writer who grew up in Peshawar, also leans toward the idea that if this dish originated in Pakistan, it was for British soldiers: ‘First, the dish was made with butter, not ghee, which is common in South Asia. The only people in my town consuming butter in industrial quantities were the British. Second, for the ordinary residents of Peshawar, chicken was prepared only on special occasions, during festivals—and it was usually made in a curry. For the British, chicken was an everyday meal.’

But perhaps the most accurate statement comes from the renowned Indian culinary historian Pushpesh Pant: ‘How can you determine who invented butter chicken? It’s like trying to figure out who discovered fire!’