Goodbye,
fish and chips?
Britain's most popular
national dish is now chicken
tikka masala, an entrée of
oven-roasted chicken in a
creamy tomato sauce widely
served in Indian restaurants,
the British foreign secretary
proclaimed in a speech in
April. Critics immediately blasted
the speech, which celebrated
multiculturalism in Britain,
as a blatant attempt by the
secretary, Robin Cook, to
curry favor for his Labour
Party with immigrant voters in
upcoming national elections.
But his remarks also
provided official recognition
of an extraordinary shift in
Western eating habits. Once
limited to notoriously basic
dishes of beef, mutton and
fish, the British are now
major consumers of Indian
food. The Times of India
recently counted 8,500 Indian
restaurants in Britain. "While in America you
almost have a Chinese
restaurant on every corner, in
England it's an Indian
restaurant," says John
Jago-Ford, owner of the
British Shoppe in Madison,
which sells tea and British
food, including curry mixes.
Underlying the trend was
the massive wave of South
Asian immigration to the
United Kingdom after World War
II. But Indian food has wide
appeal there. British retailer
Marks & Spencer has long
sold prepackaged chicken tikka
masala sandwiches. On April
11, McDonald's in Britain
kicked off a two-month
campaign that puts "a
host of Indian-inspired
products" on the menu,
such as lamb rogan josh and
vegetable samosas. Even Queen
Elizabeth reportedly has a
favorite place for munching
curry - the upscale Veeraswamy
Restaurant on London's Regents
Street.
On this side of the
Atlantic, chicken tikka masala
seems to be a crowd pleaser as
well.
Arun Pereira says the dish
is the one most ordered by
customers at his Bombay Raj
Mahal restaurant in
Manchester. The sauce, which
isn't as hot as many spicier
curried items on the menu, is
the reason for the popularity
among people who aren't
veterans of South Asian
dining. "It's very tasty but
doesn't burn your tongue.
That's the way they like
it," says Pereira, who
established the business in
1986.
Unlike lots of other Indian
sauces that have an onion
base, chicken tikka masala has
a tomato base, making the
taste a little more familiar
to people used to eating
Italian and other European
cuisine. The dish "has
more in common with what the
whole world eats" than
some other offerings, says
Shekhar Naik, owner of
Glastonbury's Ambassador of
India restaurant, which opened
in 1995. Chicken tikka masala
is the hands-down favorite
there, too, he says.
By some accounts, chicken
tikka masala was specifically
invented by South Asian chefs
for Western customers who,
when presented with chicken
roasted in a tandoori oven,
demanded the meat be served in
some kind of gravy. But Naik
said the dish arose as a
variant of chicken makhani,
which has a thick butter
sauce, at a restaurant in the
Indian capital of New Delhi.
However popular the dish
may be, to be sure, roast beef
and Yorkshire pudding aren't
likely to disappear as
sentimental favorites in
Britain and elsewhere anytime
soon. These are foods
"made by mother at
home," Jago-Ford says,
and they have a special place
in the British culinary
pantheon.
Penny Gerstein, owner of
the Penny Ha'Penny store in
Wilton, says that while Indian
food may dominate the take-out
market, "I'm not sure
whether people cook it as much
at home."
Although she sells some
Indian spices, the most
popular food in her store for
fellow British expatriates is
baked beans manufactured by
Heinz's British division. For
other Indian recipes like the
one below, go to www.cuisinecuisine.com.
Chicken Tikka Masala
4 whole boneless chicken
breasts, skin removed and cut
into strips or cubes
Marinade
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2-inch piece of fresh
gingerroot, peeled and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 to 2 teaspoons curry powder
4 tablespoons lemon juice
Gravy
2 tablespoons oil
1-inch piece gingerroot,
peeled and minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Salt to taste
1/4 cup sour cream
To make marinade:
Combine all marinade
ingredients in a large bowl.
Add chicken and toss to coat.
Marinate for 20 minutes to 1
hour.
Preheat a gas grill. Thread
the chicken on skewers, and
grill, turning, until chicken
is cooked. Remove from heat.
To make gravy: Heat
the oil in a skillet. Add the
ginger and garlic, and sauté
until golden but not browned.
Add the onions, and sauté
until soft and golden brown.
Stir in the tomatoes and cook
until soft, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the cumin, coriander
and salt, and cook briefly.
Add the cooked chicken
pieces, and cook until heated
through. Slowly stir in sour
cream, and cook until heated.
Serve over rice with chopped
cilantro and lime wedges.
Serves 6.
©2001 MyWay Corp.
Portions ©2001 ctnow.com
All rights reserved
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