By Rita Cardeira
New Delhi, May 29 (EFE).- A battle over the ownership of a famous Indian dish, butter chicken, was set to be heard in a New Delhi court on Wednesday, with two popular restaurant chains in the Indian capital claiming to be the inventors of this century-old dish.
Both Moti Mahal and Daryaganj claim to have created butter chicken along with a lentil-based dish, dal makhani, both of which have their origins tied to the Punjab region, spread across current-day India and Pakistan.
In January, the restaurants took the legal route to defend their ownership of the recipe.
Moti Mahal filed a 2,752-page lawsuit against Daryaganj over its claim that it had invented the dishes and its use of the term “by the inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani” to which Daryaganj responded with a 642-page counter-filing.
Amit Bagga, co-founder and executive director of Daryaganj, told EFE that the dispute began after he appeared on the television program Shark Tank India, a competition for entrepreneurs, in February 2023.
“Going on Shark Tank was a big exposure for our brand. My opinion is that, after that, Mr. Gujral (current owner of Moti Mahal) decided to sue us because he saw that we had been successful and that people were starting to line up at our restaurants,” Bagga said.
However, Kuvam Gujral, son of the director of the Moti Mahal, told EFE that the problem lay in Daryaganj’s description “by the inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani,” which threatens the legacy of his great-grandfather.
“How can you, after 30 years, perceive yourself as the inventor of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani and try to add this slogan to make your restaurant the best?” he asked.
Bagga went on Shark Tank to say his grandfather invented butter chicken but never mentioned that it was his grandfather and other inventors who together created the dish, Gujral said.
“We are not here to dilute the name; we are not here to tell you that you have to close the restaurant because there are many restaurants that serve both dishes. We are just trying to secure my great-grandfather’s legacy,” he said.
In 1947, amid the chaotic division of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan, Kundan Lal Gujral, grandfather of the owner of Moti Mahal, moved to Delhi from Pakistan and opened his first restaurant.
He then appointed his friends, Kundan Lal Jaggi, grandfather of one of the current owners of Daryaganj, and Thakur Dass as partners, a decision that none of them would have imagined having such a fallout decades later.
The restaurant’s fame spread quickly to the extent that people visited India especially to try the star dish, butter chicken.
In 1979, Dass left Moti Mahal, leaving it in the hands of the Gujral and Jaggi families.
The restaurant was a favorite of then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi, Gurjal said.
Former United States President Richard Nixon and former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy were also fans of Moti Mahal.
Despite its success, the relationship between the two families had cracks, resulting in a split in the restaurant chain.
In 2017, Jaggi’s heir launched the Daryaganj brand with his childhood friend, Amit Bagga, to honor his grandfather’s legacy.
Jaggi, a recipient of the Culinary Legend Award, died in 2018 and could not see the restaurant’s opening the following year although it was his idea to name it ‘Daryaganj’, Bagga said. EFE
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