Ali Ahmed Aslam was a restaurant owner in Glasgow, Scotland who was credited with inventing the popular Indian dish Chicken Tikka Masala.
- Died: Monday, December 19, 2022. (Who else died on December 19?)
- Details of death: Died at the age of 77.
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Chicken Tikka Masala
Ali Ahmed Aslam, known as “Mr. Ali,” was born in Pakistan and moved to the United Kingdom when he was a child. He opened the restaurant Shish Mahal in 1964 in Glasgow, Scotland. He claimed to have invented Chicken Tikka Masala in the 1970s after a customer asked if he could have sauce with the standard Chicken Tikka because it was too dry. Aslam took cream, a can of condensed tomato soup and various spices to come up with the sauce. Chicken Tikka Masala is a beloved national dish in the United Kingdom and many others have claimed to have invented it. While the origins of Chicken Tikka Masala may be debatable, Aslam is credited by many to be the first.
Notable Quotote
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.” “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. “It’s a dish prepared according to our customer’s taste, usually they don’t take hot curry, that’s why we cook it with yogurt and cream.” – interview with AFP
Tributes to Ali Ahmed Aslam
Full Obituary: BBC
