“Who Invented Butter Chicken?” Fight for Inventor Tag Reaches Delhi High Court

New Delhi: The debate on ‘who invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani’ has now reached the Delhi High Court.

Two renowned restaurants, Moti Mahal and Daryaganj are fighting this legal battle as each claims to have invented these popular Indian recipes.

According to Bar and Bench, the legal battle began when the proprietors of Moti Mahal filed a lawsuit against the owners of Daryaganj restaurant for using the tagline ‘Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani’, alleging that such claims mislead the public into believing there is an association between the two establishments.

The first hearing took place on January 16. The High Court has issued summons requesting a written response from Daryaganj within a month, reported the Bar and Bench.

Moti Mahal claims that its predecessor, the late Kundal Lal Gujral, created these two dishes after partition. To use

his unsold Tandoori Chicken, he came up with the makhani sauce, a rich blend of tomatoes, butter, cream, and spices, to generate the new dish of ‘Butter Chicken’. He used the same sauce with black lentils to create Dal Makhani.

On the other hand, Daryaganj restaurant, represented by Senior Advocate Amit Sibal and team, refutes these claims,

argued that the original Moti Mahal restaurant was a joint venture between the predecessors of both parties – Gujral of Moti Mahal and Jaggi of Daryaganj – in Peshawar, Pakistan.

The next hearing of the case is on May 29.