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Who invented butter chicken? Too many cooks spark Delhi dispute
Two rival restaurants are battling over the origins of this dish – and now a third is also claiming the culinary crown.
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The story of butter chicken can be emotive, evoking painful memories of the partition that followed British rule.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
Benjamin Parkin
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In the years following the traumatic 1947 partition of India, two Hindu refugees roasting naan and kebabs at a restaurant in Delhi’s old city struck gastronomic gold. Their apparent innovation – to simmer the tandoori chicken in a creamy tomato gravy to make what is today known as butter chicken – became a staple of Indian menus worldwide.
The question of who exactly dunked the meat into the sauce first has now, almost a lifetime later, become the subject of a Delhi High Court case that has divided India’s culinary scene.
