Chicken Tikka Masala

[llewtrah]

On the UKTV show Joy of Curry the story of Chicken Tikka Masala being invented by adding Campbell's tomato soup to a chicken dish was mentioned and debunked by the Indian chef who claimed to have invented the legend (but not the dish). He claimed to have chosen a quintessentially British soup as the basis for this tale. Unfortunately I didn't jot down the chef's name.

The folklore goes that a diner returned his chicken dish for being too dry so the kitchen added the tomato soup to make a sauce that would soak into the rice. It seems that dishes with sauces were probably created in colonial times to suit the British palate out in India (they liked to stick to the styles, if not the flavours, of food back home). The British liked eating rice on the same plate as the curry, so that meant dishes with sauces to soak into the rice.

Interesting stuff. The Campbell's soup tale has become part of culinary folklore and a dig at the ignorance of Brits. Indian restaurant kitchens were unlikely to have cans of tomato soup hanging around!