Moti Mahal or Daryaganj? Delhi HC Steps in To Settle the Butter Chicken Debate

Moti Mahal has sued owners of Daryaganj over the use of the tagline “Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani."

The proprietors of Moti Mahal have sued owners of Daryaganj over the use of the tagline “Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani."

(Photo: The Quint)

Who invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani? The Delhi High Court will step in to settle the dispute with restaurant chain Moti Mahal suing Daryaganj restaurant for taking the credit for the two world famous dishes, Bar & Bench reported.

What happened? The proprietors of Moti Mahal have sued owners of Daryaganj over the use of the tagline “Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani."

Moti Mahal claimed before the Delhi HC that it was their predecessor Late Kundal Lal Gujral who invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani and that Daryaganj was "misleading people into believing" otherwise.

"The invention of Dal Makhani is closely linked with the invention of Butter Chicken. He (Gujaral) applied the same recipe with Black lentils and gave birth to Dal Makhani around the same time," Moti Mahal said in its lawsuit, as reported by Bar&Bench.

When was the suit filed? The case came up for hearing before Justice Sanjeev Narula on 16 January. The court had issued summons and asked Daryaganj restaurant owners to file their written response to the suit within a month.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on 29 May, news agency PTI reported.

What did the suit say? In its suit, Moti Mahal claimed that Gujral, who created the first Tandoori Chicken, went on to create Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani and brought it to India after partition.

Since the unsold leftovers of chicken could not be stored in the refrigeration, Gujral began worrying about his cooked chicken drying out and then invented a sauce with which he could rehydrate them, PTI reported.

“The invention of Dal Makhani is closely linked with the invention of Butter Chicken. He [Gujaral] applied the same recipe with Black lentils and gave birth to Dal Makhani around the same time,”

Moti Mahal has said in suit.

How did Daryaganj respond? Though Daryaganj is yet to file its response, its lawyers appeared before the Court on 16 January and strongly contested the allegations calling it “baseless and lacking a cause of action”.

-- With inputs from Bar & Bench, PTI