A legal battle has erupted in Delhi over the origins of butter chicken, one of the most popular Indian dishes in the world. Two competing families, who claim lineage to the renowned Moti Mahal restaurant, are at the center of the dispute. The lawsuit, filed by the family of Kundan Lal Gujral, one of the original restaurant founders, alleges that another restaurant chain, Daryaganj, has falsely taken credit for creating the dish. The Gujral family is seeking $240,000 in damages and has also claimed that Daryaganj has wrongly asserted that it invented another popular dish, dal makhani.
The lore surrounding the invention of butter chicken centers around a man named Mokha Singh, three of his employees, and three different restaurants located across the subcontinent. The story begins in pre-Independent India in Peshawar, where Singh ran a restaurant called Moti Mahal. In 1947, Singh and his Hindu employees fled to Delhi, where they eventually opened a new Moti Mahal restaurant in the old quarters of Delhi. It was at this location that butter chicken was invented, inspired by frugality and the use of leftover tikkas mixed in a thick tomato gravy and butter.
Despite the success of Moti Mahal and the booming popularity of butter chicken, the restaurant faced financial difficulties in 1960 and had to lease out the business. The Gujral family then launched a separate chain, Moti Mahal Deluxe, which became embroiled in a legal battle with Daryaganj in 2019. Both chains claim to be the true inventors of the dish, but the battle has little consequence to customers who only care about the quality of the dish.
Legal experts say that settling the dispute will be challenging due to the lack of direct evidence from the time of the dish’s invention. Regardless of the outcome, both restaurants are likely to continue thriving. The debate over the origins of butter chicken is just one example of the complex and fascinating ways that food travels and evolves across cultures.