Ali Ahmed Aslam (1 April 1945 – 19 December 2022) was a Pakistani–Scottish chef who is credited with inventing the dish

chicken tikka masala Chicken tikka masala is a South Asian dish consisting of roasted marinated chicken chunks ( chicken tikka) in a spiced sauce. The sauce is usually creamy and orange-coloured. The dish was popularised by cooks from South Asia living in Great B ...

Early and personal life

Aslam was born on 1 April 1945 in a small village near

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, British India (now

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

). In either 1958 or 1959, he moved with his family to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

as a young boy. His father, Noor Mohammed, opened what is considered the first true Indian restaurant in Glasgow, the Green Gates on Bank Street, in 1959. Aslam was married and had five children. One of his sons, Asif Ali, spoke to The Glasgow Times about his father's dedication towards charity work in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. A proud

Glaswegian The Glasgow dialect, popularly known as the Glasgow patter or Glaswegian, varies from Scottish English at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum to the local dialect of West Central Scots at the other. Therefore, the speech of many Glaswegian ...

, his nephew Ahmed said he was a perfectionist and highly driven.

Chef and restaurant owner

Aslam opened the Shish Mahal restaurant in Glasgow's west end in 1964 and reportedly ate lunch in his restaurant every day. The establishment was considered his life's work, according to friends, locals and family.

Invention

Though the origin of the dish is not certain, he is credited with inventing chicken tikka masala by improvising a sauce made from a tin of condensed

tomato soup Tomato soup is a soup with tomatoes as the primary ingredient. It can be served hot or cold, and may be made in a variety of ways. It may be smooth in texture, and there are also recipes that include chunks of tomato, cream, chicken or vegetabl ...

, and spices. He claimed he devised the recipe for "Britain's favourite curry" after a customer complained that his meal was too dry. Quoted, he recounted the incident as follows: "Chicken tikka masala was invented in this restaurant, we used to make chicken tikka, and one day a customer said, 'I'd take some sauce with that, this is a bit dry'. We thought we'd better cook the chicken with some sauce. So from here we cooked chicken tikka with the sauce that contains

yogurt Yogurt (; , from tr, yoğurt, also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as ''yogurt cultures''. Fermentation of sugars in t ...

, cream, spices." The dish is widely considered an adaptation of the

South Asian cuisine South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

to suit

Western European Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

palates. Aslam claimed it was his gift to the city of Glasgow and he later campaigned unsuccessfully for the dish to be granted

Protected Designation of Origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union and the United Kingdom aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main ...

status by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Death

Aslam died of

septic shock Septic shock is a potentially fatal medical condition that occurs when sepsis, which is organ injury or damage in response to infection, leads to dangerously low blood pressure and abnormalities in cellular metabolism. The Third International Con ...

and organ failure in Glasgow on 19 December 2022, at age 77. His funeral was held at

Glasgow Central Mosque Glasgow Central Mosque is located on the south bank of the River Clyde in the Gorbals district of central Glasgow. The organization, 'Muslims in Britain' classify the Glasgow Central Mosque as, Deobandi. The Mosque The Mosque was designed b ...

the next day, with members of the public invited to attend.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aslam, Ahmed Ali 1945 births 2022 deaths Pakistani chefs Pakistani emigrants to Scotland Scottish chefs People from Glasgow