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Campaign for Scots national curry hots up

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Published Date: 06 July 2009
By CHARLOTTE OTTER
A SCOTS city is making a bid to have the chicken tikka masala added to the list of traditional national dishes.
The campaign was launched yesterday by the Shish Mahal curry house in Glasgow.

Labour MP Mohammad Sarwar said he would table a motion in the Commons to give the same legal protection to the curry as other regional foods, such as Cornish pasties and Arbroath smokies.

Chicken tikka masala, believed to be the most popular curry in Britain, is said to have been created by Ali Ahmed Aslam, the owner of the Shish Mahal in Glasgow's West End.

It is claimed that Mr Aslam came up with the recipe after a diner complained about the dryness of his chicken.

Asif Ali, manager of the Shish Mahal, said he was confident Glasgow's bid would succeed.

He said: "We could call it the 'Glasgow chicken tikka masala'.

"We consider ourselves to be Glaswegians first and Scottish second so we are proud to have invented it here."

With the support of their government, food producers can apply to the EU for Protected Designation of Origin status, designed for food prepared in a specific geographic area.





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  • Last Updated: 05 July 2009 11:46 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Finlang,

Hong Kong 06/07/2009 02:36:15
Cornish pasties and Arbroath smokies are truly indigenous to very specific areas of England and Scotland respectively. Curry?! I love curry dishes, but consider them to be more appropriately native to the Indian subcontinent, the chicken tikka masala variant notwithstanding. Null points for Glesca, I think. Good luck, but you might have competition from Brummie or Leicester counterparts.
2

R Davis,

Vienna 06/07/2009 05:27:25
The country is falling to bits and Mr Sarwar is busy occupying ths house's time in matter so pressing.
3

John JP,

Wishaw 06/07/2009 07:13:09
The best curries in Scotland come from the Bombay Cottage in Hamilton.
4

Maname'sbintaken,

06/07/2009 10:00:51
I've never had anything remotely similar to British curries on the subcontinent. They're very much a British invention. Why shouldn't the Shish Mahal claim tikka masala if they invented it?
Is that the same Shish Mahal whose owner did jail time a couple of decades ago for tax fraud? I remember he wrote a recipe book of his restaurant's menu as some kind of "penance" for his sins. Bloody good it was. Wish I still had it.
5

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 06/07/2009 11:50:16
Curries native to Scotland??? I was always under the impression that curries and the like originated from hot countries, where various spices were added in order to cover up the inevitable "off" taste of meat stored without the aid of refrigerators.

I can appreciate that many people like curries nowadays, but let's no kids ourselves that they are indigenous to Scotland shall we?
6

Dragonhead,

Dalian,China 07/07/2009 04:23:32
Curry was brought back to UK from India by soldiers and sailors.I am sure that somewhere in the vast epicurean recipes of the subcontinent, India,Sri Lanka,Pakistan and Bangladesh is the self same ingredients called something else! The man's a chancer!
I now eat breakfast which includes, Mongolian milk Australian Oats,with Chinese honey,every morning. Hmmm!MAC, so I will now claim to have invented MacPorridge!Hahahaha!

 

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