Moti Mahal is a restaurant. After the partition of India in 1947, the Moti Mahal in Delhi was founded by Kundan Lal Gujral, Kundan Lal Jaggi and Thakur Dass as one of the first restaurants to introduce the

Punjabi cuisine Punjabi cuisine is a culinary style originating in the Punjab, a region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, which is now divided in an Indian part to the east and a Pakistani part to the west. This cuisine has a rich tradition o ...

to the rest of the world.

History

Moti Mahal was founded by Kundan Lal Gujral, Thakur Dass and Kundan Lal Jaggi, in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

in 1947. They worked at a small eatery called ''Moti Mahal'', owned by a man named Mokha Singh in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, from the 1920s to 1947. A piece of a tandoori chicken

After the partition of India in 1947, they fled to

with their families. In

, the three partners bought a ''thara'' (booth) in the Daryaganj area, then considered a newer part of

Old Delhi Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. T ...

and then they started Moti Mahal, Daryaganj Moti Mahal further went on to invent

butter chicken Butter chicken, traditionally known as murgh makhani (), is an Indian dish originating in New Delhi. It is a type of curry made from chicken with a spiced tomato and butter (''makhan'') sauce. Its sauce is known for its rich texture. It is si ...

and

dal makhani In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of pu ...

References

{{coord, 28.6465, 77.2401, display=title Moti Mahal Restaurants in Delhi Punjabi cuisine