The recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala - a British classic

Today I will be sharing the recipe for a traditional and classic British dish, Chicken Tikka Masala. The dish consists of chicken tikka that is then cooked in a creamy tomato sauce. It is claimed to be created by Ali Ahmed Aslam, a Pakistani-British chef, in Glasgow, Scotland⁽¹⁾. Chicken tikka masala can be served with plain basmati rice, chapati, paratha or naan. We will explore all these options along with the ingredients required to create this delectable dish.

The recipe referenced in this blog is created by Swasthi and is shared on her blog ⁽²⁾. She also includes alternatives on how to cook the chicken tikka as the original chicken tikka, hailing from North India, is cooked in an Angithi, a Northern South Asian Brazier⁽³⁾.

Ingredients and origins:

• 700g of boneless chicken thighs (Origin of the chicken is estimated to be in Southeast Asia) ⁽²²⁾
• ½ cup of greek yogurt (Hung curd) (Origin as per wikipedia: Levant, Asia, Middle East, Caucasus, South Eastern and Eastern Europe) ⁽⁴⁾
• 1/2 -1 teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder (Origin: Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Goa)⁽⁵⁾
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (Origin: Indian subcontinent) ⁽⁶⁾
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric (Origin: Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia) ⁽⁷⁾
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder (Origin: Middle East and Mediterranean Basin) ⁽⁸⁾
• ½ teaspoon cumin powder (Origin: Central Asia, Southwestern Asia and Eastern Mediterranean) ⁽⁹⁾
• ½ teaspoon salt (Earliest documentation of salt is in the Chinese Png-tzao-kan-mu) ⁽¹⁰⁾
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (Origin: Northwest India) ⁽¹¹⁾
• 1 tablespoon kasuri methi (Fenugreek leaves) (Origin: Near East and Indian subcontinent) ⁽¹²⁾
• ¾ tablespoon grated ginger (Origin: Maritime Southeast Asia) ⁽¹³⁾
• ¼ tablespoon grated garlic (Origin: Central and South Asia) ⁽¹⁴⁾
• 1 tablespoon mustard oil (Origin: Indus Valley Civilisation, which is modern day India and Pakistan) ⁽¹⁵⁾

For the Tikka Masala:

• 3 tablespoons of ghee (Origin: India)⁽¹⁶⁾
• 1 ½ cups onion (Origin: Iran, Western Pakistan and Central Asia) ⁽¹⁷⁾
• 1 green chilli (Origin: Central or South America) ⁽¹⁸⁾
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ tablespoon grated ginger
• ¼ tablespoon grated garlic
• 1/2 -1 teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 - 1 ½ teaspoon cumin powder
• 1-2 teaspoons sugar (Origin: India) ⁽¹⁹⁾
• 500g of tomatoes (Origin: Western South America)⁽²⁰⁾
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 tablespoon kasuri methi

½ cup cream (Origin: Greece, Persia and Rome)⁽²¹⁾

For garnish:

• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons coriander leaves

While the rest of the recipe can be referred to in Swasthi’s blog ⁽²⁾. This blog post is here to make you question if Chicken Tikka Masala can really be called a British dish when, from the person who created it down to the origins of every ingredient used, none of those are British. So, either we agree that if dishes born in the UK can be called British then so can all the people born in the UK, regardless of their heritage and ethnicity, regardless of their origin. Or, if those people born and raised in the UK cannot be British, if they are still ‘other’ then one of the most popular ‘British’ dishes can also not be claimed by the UK since no part of it is actually British.

You cannot claim our food, so deeply tied to our history and culture, without embracing us and every part of our culture and heritage. We are either accepted completely or not at all, but you cannot pick and choose what parts of our identity and history are to your liking, to your palette.