R.I.P.

Chicken Tikka Masala Inventor Ali Ahmed Aslam Dies at 77

The Pakistani-born chef said he cooked up his signature dish in a Scottish restaurant.

Ali Ahmed Aslam, the man credited with inventing the chicken tikka masala dish, died on Monday. He was 77. Aslam’s death was announced on the Instagram page of his Shish Mahal restaurant in Scotland, which added that it would close for two days out of respect. Aslam, who was born in Pakistan but moved to the U.K. with his family as a boy, opened Shish Mahal in Glasgow in 1964. It was there that he claimed to have invented the chicken tikka masala after a customer asked for some sauce to go with a typical chicken tikka, though other British restaurants similarly claimed to have created the dish. The curry has since become as beloved in Britain as fish and chips and is considered a national dish. Aslam was married and had five children, according to a social media post announcing his funeral on Tuesday.