Topic: Shahi chicken masala

[tempest63]

Shahi chicken masala
or chicken cooked with spices - Mughal Style

In 1961 the "first grand dame" of Indian Cookery, Mrs Balbir Singh, penned her book Indian Cookery. Born in Punjab in 1912 Mrs Blabir Singh has been described as the Julia Child of Indian food and as the the indian cooking Guru of the sixties and seventies.

Her English language cookbook was used widely by expatriate Indians yearning to create the flavours that they were missing from home and it was a treasure box of recipes that quickly became a culinary bible to newlyweds and families both at home in India and abroad.

Although many of her recipes were award-winning, a particular recipe of Mrs Singhs has been claimed to be the foundation of the now world famous chicken tikka masala. Ethnic food historians and authors Peter and Colleen Grove research and discuss various origin claims of Chicken Tikka Masala in their Flavours of History, in which one of their key conclusions suggests that "The shape of things to come may have been a recipe for Shahi Chicken Masala in Mrs. Balbir Singh