Ali Ahmed Aslam Dies: The 77-year-old cook credited with creating the chicken tikka masala, widely considered Britain’s favorite curry, has passed away.
After learning of Ali Ahmed Aslam’s passing on Monday, Glasgow’s Shish Mahal restaurant remained closed for 48 hours as a gesture of respect. The restaurant yelled, “Hey, Shish Snobs… He died this morning, Mr. Ali. We are all heartbroken and distraught.
The Glasgow Central Mosque hosted his funeral on Tuesday. The whole public was welcome to attend.
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Aslam was born in Pakistan and immigrated to Glasgow with his family when he was a small child. In 1964, he opened the Shish Mahal in Glasgow’s west end. A social media post claimed he was married and had five kids.
Aslam revealed that he invented the chicken tikka masala in the 1970s in response to a customer’s request to make his chicken tikka less dry in an interview with AFP news agency. He decided to add a rich tomato sauce as a fix.
“This restaurant developed chicken tikka masala,” he declared. When we served chicken tikka, a customer requested sauce because the dish was a little dry.
“We decided it would be best to cook the chicken with sauce. So from this point, we prepared chicken tikka with a sauce made of yogurt, cream, and spices. It’s a dish made with our customer’s preferences in mind. Since people typically dislike hot curries, we prepare them with yogurt and cream.
Mohammad Sarwar, a Labour politician representing Glasgow Central at the time, asked for the city’s designation as the origin of the chicken tikka masala in 2009. He introduced an early-day resolution in the House of Commons to support his effort for Glasgow to be granted EU Protected Designation of Origin status for the curry.
The attempt, however, was unsuccessful since several other eateries in the UK also asserted that they had created the well-known dish.
Who Was Ali Ahmed Aslam?
The chicken tikka masala recipe is credited to Scottish-Pakistani chef Ali Ahmed Aslam, who passed away in Glasgow on December 19, 2022. He stated that after a diner complained that his dinner was too dry, he came up with the recipe for “Britain’s favorite curry.”
Aslam was born in Pakistan and immigrated to Glasgow with his family as a young child. In 1964, he opened the “Shish Mahal” restaurant in Glasgow’s west end. He had five kids and was married.
While the dish’s exact origins are unknown, the owner of a restaurant in Glasgow is credited with creating chicken tikka masala by making a sauce using spices and a can of condensed tomato soup.
The Glasgow Times interviewed Asif Ali, Aslam’s son, on his father’s commitment to charitable work in Scotland and Pakistan.
At 77, he passed away on December 19, 2022. A day later, his funeral was held in Glasgow Central Mosque, and the public was invited.
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