A Tale of Two Cities and the Saga of Butter Chicken

A Delhi Court is confronted with perhaps one of the most difficult and tricky cases, which involves the contentious issue of who had actually invented the Butter chicken, one of the favourite dishes, listed in the Menus of Restaurants, which serve Indian Cuisine around the world. The grandson of one of the original Founders of Moti Mahal (that company does not exist anymore) who runs a franchise chain, bearing a similar name, has sued the owners of another group which is owned by the grandson of the second original co-owner, for claiming that they were the inventors of the dish.

It has in a way become a contest between Kundan Lal Gujral’s family and that of Kundan Lal Jaggi, both close friends at one time, who started Moti Mahal in Darya Ganj following the partition of the country. It is important to add here that Moti Mahal was a dhabha run by Mokha Singh Lamba in Peshawar and known for its varied preparations. Incidentally, the Khyber, which was relocated to Kashmere Gate in Delhi, and run by the Sethi family, was a restaurant in Peshawar also, and the menu of the two eating places, had many similarities.
The Moti Mahal in the capital here was started by three partners, Gujral, Jaggi and Thakur Dass. The arrangement was that Gujral looked after the public relations and thus emerged as the face of the Restaurant, Thakur Dass was incharge of the accounts and finances and Jaggi, was responsible for the backend and kitchen. The restaurant revolutionized eating habits in Delhi, where the food became a major attraction. Foreigners and dignitaries from all over the world, patronized this unique eatery.

Pandit Nehru, Jacqueline Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev were amongst those who enjoyed savoring various items, particularly Tandoori food. Significantly, it is pertinent to state that various people who thronged Moti Mahal, did so largely for its Tandoori dishes and the meats. Butter Chicken was certainly not its most favoured and consumed items. In fact, the preparation of Butter Chicken depends on the quality of Tandoori Chicken which is a part of the preparation.

Without going into the claims and counter claims of the two parties, which the court alone can perhaps determine, there were other restaurants also that served similar food. For instance, Peshawari, on the same street as Moti Mahal, and run by the Chandhok family had outstanding Butter chicken and Karahi Chicken. Rajdhani restaurant, located a few shops away also claimed to have this dish. Now the question is whether these two and places like Khyber and other restaurants, steal the recipes to put the Butter Chicken on their menu, or whether they had their own way of cooking it, and that is why it became a popular item.

Having frequented Moti Mahal and Khyber during my childhood days, I can only recollect that there were not too many customers who ordered Butter chicken. Incidentally, the taste of the Chicken and also of Mutton has transformed over the years. The Kashmiri Goats are no longer sold in Delhi and the Broilers don’t taste the same way as the traditional chicken.
However, the magic of Moti Mahal persisted till the two major partners, Kundan Lal Gujral and Kundan Lal Jaggi parted ways in 1979 (Thakur Dass had left much earlier). Therefore, the Court shall have to establish whether the new entities which claim the legacy of the famous restaurant, have a patent over any dish. Both the chains are doing reasonably well and it is a matter of surprise that this dispute has arisen. Even within the franchise, the Butter Chicken of all Moti Mahal Deluxe chains don’t taste the same. The Malcha Marg outlet is certainly better than most others but these things are a matter of taste, and each customer can have a different take on it. It is also important to point out that at one stage, the Tandoor restaurant at Hotel President on Asaf Ali Road and the Delhi Durbar in Greater Kailash-I market also served very good Butter Chicken. Tastes and methods of preparations of certain dishes evolve over a period of time. Moti Mahal was also known for its Dal Makhni but there were many Punjabi homes, where this Dal was cooked, if not better but as well as it was, in this famous eatery.

The trick was to prepare the Dal on low intensity fire over a period a few hours till its colour changed slightly and added to its taste. Other than Moti Mahal, there were multiple outlets opened by Punjabi refugees from what is now Pakistan which had extraordinary food.
Kake Da Hotel and Bhape Da Hotel became very popular by no one cooked mutton better than the National Dhabha at one point of time. The eateries still exist. Similarly, the Pandara Road restaurants had a huge clientele. There are five-star hotels which also have improved upon and have their versions of many dishes which had high consumption levels. Even amongst the original Connaught Place restaurants, there were specialities. Embassy for instance served the best Dal Meat, United Coffee House, had good continental offerings, Volga was known for its sizzlers and Wengers (before it closed it restaurant) had exceptional Roghan Josh and Naan. The court has to take the final call on the butter chicken controversy, but it would be a difficult task to determine how the dish was invented and who actually did that. However, one can only pray that this dispute ends as early as possible, and life is allowed to move on.