Who Invented Butter Chicken, Dal Makhani? Moti Mahal And Daryaganj To Battle It In Court
The Delhi High Court is set to decide who among Moti Mahal And Daryaganj, two iconic restaurants in the national capital, is the inventor of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani.
The Delhi HC has accepted a plea by the owners of Moti Mahal accusing the Daryaganj restaurant of the use of the tagline ¡°Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani¡±.
Moti Mahal vs Daryaganj
The two restaurants have a shared history and have fought over who invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani.
Moti Mahal was founded as a small eatery by Kundan Lal Gujral, Thakur Das Magu, and Kundan Lal Jaggi in Peshawar but came to Delhi after the partition.
They started the first Moti Mahal in Daryaganj in 1947.
Who invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani??
According to Moti Mahal, it was Gujral who came up with the recipe for what is now called butter chicken and dal makhani. Gujaral is also the inventor of tandoori chicken.
However, according to Daryaganj, the recipe was the creation of Jaggi.
How Butter Chicken recipe was created?
Both eateries share the same backstory on how Butter Chicken came into being - from tandoori chicken.
According to Moti Mahal, Butter Chicken was invented by Kundan Lal in the 1930s by simmering leftover tandoori chicken in a rich tomato-based sauce with butter and cream.
But according to Daryaganj in 1947, Kundan Lal Jaggi came up with the improvised recipe when a group of refugees arrived at his restaurant as he was about to shut for the day.?
By this time there was only some tandoori chicken left in the kitchen and a Bengali gentleman who was dining there suggested Jaggi make a gravy and add tandoori chicken into it. Jaggi created a gravy with tomatoes, fresh butter, and some spices. He then added pieces of cooked tandoori chicken to it, making what we now know as Butter Chicken.
What is Moti Mahal's plea
In its petition, Moti Mahal said that by claiming to be the ¡°Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani¡± Daryaganj restaurant is ¡°misleading people into believing¡± that there is a relation between the two.
Based on the plea, Justice Sanjeev Narula of the Delhi HC on January 16 issued a summons and asked Daryaganj restaurant owners to file their written response in a month.
What?Daryaganj said?
Though Daryaganj is yet to file a response, the restaurant's lawyer told the HC that the allegation was false and pointed out that the first Moti Mahal restaurant was jointly established by predecessors of both parties in Peshawar.
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