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In 1947, two men, both named Kundan, fled Peshawar during the bloody partition (phân vùng) that carved Pakistan out of British India. They landed in Delhi and soon became partners in a restaurant called Moti Mahal serving food from the Punjab region.

On this much their descendants (hậu duệ) agree. Where they diverge (chia ra) is on the question of which of the men should go down in culinary history.

But in the case of butter chicken, much is riding on the verdict (bản án) — money, mostly, but also the legacy of the storied restaurant that the two men began building nearly eight decades ago, a span that covers almost all of India’s modern history as an independent nation.

The lawsuit offers a pre-refrigeration-era (thời kỳ tiền điện lạnh) sketch of how the dish came to be. Mr. Gujral, it says, “worried about what to do with the leftover tandoori chicken each night. It was his recipe to create a gravy with chopped tomatoes, cream, butter and spices, with sugar when the tomatoes were too sour for balancing flavors (cân bằng hương vị).”

It offers two kinds of butter chicken — the “Original 1947 Butter Chicken, Secret Recipe of 1947” and “Today’s Butter Chicken.” The gravy of the original has a coarser texture, evoking a time before modern kitchen appliances, while the newer dish has a silkier, richer gravy.

source: nytimes,