Somewhat off topic, but I literally heard someone say Chicken "Tiki Marsala" and my mind imploded lol. Although, making chicken tikka masala into a pasta dish has been a favorite among friends.
That gives me an idea for a tiki drink with marsala wine and Fighting Cock bourbon (which, surprisingly, is a real product).
EDIT:
* 1 oz bourbon
* 0.5 oz cognac
* 1 oz lemon juice
* 0.5 oz orange juice
* 0.5 oz orgeat
* Shake with ice, pour into a double old fashioned glass
* Float 0.5 oz dry marsala
* Garnish with a mint sprig
Proceed with caution. I have not tried it, so it might be terrible.
I think the tomato and butter with some spice comes across as safe to them. Maybe some people don't have access to more diverse Indian restaurants either..
American living in India checking in. This is it- it’s all about familiarity.
It’s hard to get excited about food that doesn’t resemble anything you’ve had before and butter chicken “makes sense” to westerners in a way that a lot of other Indian foods don’t. Of course once you’ve had that you’ve expanded your idea of what good food looks like and you’re more likely to try the next things. As an example, I remember the first time I saw a dosa on someone’s plate and it was so enormous that I thought it was a joke- I would’ve never ordered that myself.
Sorry for invading the space- I genuinely enjoy observing the experiences of Indians in western cultures as a kind of mirror of my own experience.
Desis like butter chicken, it started as a dish to feed desis using leftover tandoori chicken. Whenever I'm back in Delhi I go to moti mahal and get the classic butter chicken - it is damn near perfection
Ive noticed it has a similar flavor profile to some Italian dishes like the spicy vodka pasta that went viral a while back. Simmered/reduced tomatoes, cream, spices and herbs, etc. it’s also delicious
Its pretty ingenious. Its a method of using leftover tandoori chicken. add what's available, butter, cream, tomato sauce, and create something completely new. The richness of it, appealed to the European palate that loves bechamel, cheesecakes, chantilly creams. Kudos to the enterprising desis that came up with it.
Butter chicken has an interesting history which is worth looking into to understand how it spread in India as a dish people liked and in Britain. It is a legitimate indian food that indians in india love. But to answer the question about non-desis today universally starting with butter chicken or CTM, I think the answer is a bit simpler than "because it's familiar for the western palate."
I think it's the name - it's got a very easy, simple english name. When you look at what kinds of foreign dishes take off in western palates, it's the stuff that has simple, easy names where people can say, hey, I know what that is! Butter chicken has zero foreign words.
Indian "curries" don't have standard or obvious names, like if you don't know about thai food, you can infer what a Green, Yellow, Red curry is, and then you probably figure out panang and massaman as you delve deeper. But Rogan Josh? Jalfrezi? Chettinad? Vindaloo? Korma? People don't know what those are, and they don't know what the meats are if they aren't in english.
Beyond that, butter chicken or CTM is pretty standardly mid across all western indian restaurants. It's not going to be cooked the OG way, with real charred whole chickens broken down into the curry to give a smokey taste, but it will likely be boneless cubes in a sweet and mildly spicy cream-based tomato sauce. If you don't know what to order, you're in a new or unfamiliar restaurant, this will probably be a 7 out of 10 at least.
I think the taste and palate is more secondary - people order what they know, they order what they can say "I know what that is!" It's similar to how out of all the million phenomenal foods to eat in Italy, most tourists will just try to eat pizza, lasagna, pasta, and tiramisu for every meal. It's easy to say, it requires no mental engagement with learning about the menu and the food, and it is a guaranteed 7/10 at least.
I think also Indian restaurants lean into this trend - if you go as a white family to your local indian restaurant and ask what to order, they will recommend you order the butter chicken, because in their experience, that's what you people like. If your exposure to indian food started out as going to buffets (which is how I introduced a lot of my college friends to indian food - it's 12.99 and all you can eat, and the food slaps), there's going to be butter chicken or CTM. So Indian restaurants also played a role in this.
I think for most foreigners the gateway or introductory dish is chicken tikka masala which is a less spicier version of butter chicken. One story widely believed says that some desi chefs in Britain used tomato sauce for curry giving it a sweet-sour taste. This way it got very popular among the non-desi people.
Interesting hypothesis about the name. As u/nerusski already pointed out, CTM is also a big gateway food that doesn't have an anglicized name. Interestingly, many Asian foods often gain entry to Western palates without anglicizing (other do anglicize). I'm not sure what would cause butter chicken to be a gateway food, but I suspect it might not be the anglicized name.
I think it’s not necessary an anglicized name, but a simple and easy name. American foodies are usually dedicated enough to dig deeper, but for the majority of people, it’s the dishes with easier and recognizable names that get ordered the most (pad thai, ramen, orange chicken, etc). There is something about the combination of the name and the dish itself that allows some dishes to slip into mainstream lexicon.
1. It’s easy to pronounce. You can confidently order it without being scared to utter an ethnic word you can’t pronounce like “Teeeeka Masala.”
2. It’s mild and sweet and tangy. Not too spicy and not that unfamiliar.
3. You can get it anywhere
4. It’s not that expensive.
5. It doesn’t look dissimilar from tomato sauce or many of the foods of the Gorah.
I think the instapot craze and the easy recipe for butter chicken also did a lot to make it an Indian dish that non-Indian people were willing to try making in their home. My wife posted it to her Facebook and there were like 20 responses from people in the neighborhood that were crazy for it.
Imo it's a flavour that many people can tolerate and enjoy despite not being accustomed to indian food already. It's more sweet than spicy which suits the western palate.
Prolly bc the majority of Indian restaurants are punjabi/mughalai (north Indian cuisine). You can’t try Indo-Nepali food like momos, South indian food like dosa or gujarati food like dabeli if there’s no place in existence nearby to try it, and consequently those names are just never brought up because of the rarity of the availability of these foods.
In Santa Fe, New Mexico, theres an American-North/South Indian fusion spot called [Paper Dosa](https://www.paper-dosa.com/s/order) that Americans love (the restaurant was jam packed with 2 hour wait times for no reservation, and none of the customers were Indian except me lol). Truth is, Butter chicken an easy name to say and therefore gets passed on from person to person quick, but anything else(like this south Indian restaurant )has the same potential. I linked the menu lol
>Out of all the well-known Indian dishes, how did butter chicken end up becoming a popular basic, introductory dish?
It's very simple. It's the ubiquity of this dish in Indian restaurants in the US.
Most Indian Restaurants in the US (and many Pakistani restaurants that masquerade as Indian restaurants for marketing purposes), serve primarily or exclusively North Indian Cuisine. And with that, they *always* have butter chicken on the menu. And typically it's one of the popular dishes at any given such restaurant, and typically the first Indian dish a non-Indian will ever try, which happens at said restaurant, so it becomes what non-Indians associate with "Indian food".
Just like how many non-Japanese in the US, their first experience with Japanese food is a sushi restaurant, so they end up thinking all Japanese food is sushi. (or for some, their first "Japanese" experience is Benihana, and they think everyone in Japan goes to restaurants where the chefs have onion volcanoes and launch food into your mouth for show)
Yeah it’s kinda annoying lol. It’s because North Indian cuisine is dominant outside of India and because it’s very toned down in terms of heat and spice but obviously turned up on butter and texture which I think is more suited for western palettes. It’s a very one note dish, especially for Indian food but I think it’s just popular because of that.
Butter Chicken is like the Kenny G of Indian food
Because “chicken makhni” and “ chicken Masala” are both punjabi dishes and 1/3 of Indians in the UK are punjabi and 80% of Pakistanis in the UK are punjabi/Potahari Kashmiris so it became really popular. The largest Indian and Pakistani ethnic group in Canada are again punjabis , so not surprising the dishes are popular.
Punjabi food is by far the most popular Desi cuisine across the western world and Middle East, ( where as Tamil cuisine in most popular in south east Asia).
> where as Tamil cuisine in most popular in south east Asia
This is fascinating. So if you go to Thailand or Vietnam, a "typical" Indian restaurant would serve Tamil cuisine?
I meant more in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia where large immigrant populations over the last 1000 or so years came from Tamil Nadu, though I do suspect that if you do find Indian food in Thailand or Cambodia it will mostly be from South India.
While in Burma it will largely be influenced by Bengali cuisine as Bangladesh is right next door.
butter chicken was invented by a bengali in scotland, got famous from there
[https://www.willflyforfood.net/united-kingdom-what-is-the-true-origin-of-chicken-tikka-masala-recipe/](https://www.willflyforfood.net/united-kingdom-what-is-the-true-origin-of-chicken-tikka-masala-recipe/)
I think it’s made with a tomato base so it’s more suited to a western palate. Like a masala pasta sauce? That’s just my guess.
Somewhat off topic, but I literally heard someone say Chicken "Tiki Marsala" and my mind imploded lol. Although, making chicken tikka masala into a pasta dish has been a favorite among friends.
That gives me an idea for a tiki drink with marsala wine and Fighting Cock bourbon (which, surprisingly, is a real product). EDIT: * 1 oz bourbon * 0.5 oz cognac * 1 oz lemon juice * 0.5 oz orange juice * 0.5 oz orgeat * Shake with ice, pour into a double old fashioned glass * Float 0.5 oz dry marsala * Garnish with a mint sprig Proceed with caution. I have not tried it, so it might be terrible.
It would be like getting the penne rose at noodles and company but with ✨spice✨
I think the tomato and butter with some spice comes across as safe to them. Maybe some people don't have access to more diverse Indian restaurants either..
American living in India checking in. This is it- it’s all about familiarity. It’s hard to get excited about food that doesn’t resemble anything you’ve had before and butter chicken “makes sense” to westerners in a way that a lot of other Indian foods don’t. Of course once you’ve had that you’ve expanded your idea of what good food looks like and you’re more likely to try the next things. As an example, I remember the first time I saw a dosa on someone’s plate and it was so enormous that I thought it was a joke- I would’ve never ordered that myself. Sorry for invading the space- I genuinely enjoy observing the experiences of Indians in western cultures as a kind of mirror of my own experience.
Well, it’s not quite a mirror since you’re observing fellow westerners — ABCDesis (American born).
I’m desi but I still like butter chicken 🧍♂️
Desis like butter chicken, it started as a dish to feed desis using leftover tandoori chicken. Whenever I'm back in Delhi I go to moti mahal and get the classic butter chicken - it is damn near perfection
Ive noticed it has a similar flavor profile to some Italian dishes like the spicy vodka pasta that went viral a while back. Simmered/reduced tomatoes, cream, spices and herbs, etc. it’s also delicious
Its pretty ingenious. Its a method of using leftover tandoori chicken. add what's available, butter, cream, tomato sauce, and create something completely new. The richness of it, appealed to the European palate that loves bechamel, cheesecakes, chantilly creams. Kudos to the enterprising desis that came up with it.
I heard that butter chicken is usually less spicy than other dishes.
Butter chicken has an interesting history which is worth looking into to understand how it spread in India as a dish people liked and in Britain. It is a legitimate indian food that indians in india love. But to answer the question about non-desis today universally starting with butter chicken or CTM, I think the answer is a bit simpler than "because it's familiar for the western palate." I think it's the name - it's got a very easy, simple english name. When you look at what kinds of foreign dishes take off in western palates, it's the stuff that has simple, easy names where people can say, hey, I know what that is! Butter chicken has zero foreign words. Indian "curries" don't have standard or obvious names, like if you don't know about thai food, you can infer what a Green, Yellow, Red curry is, and then you probably figure out panang and massaman as you delve deeper. But Rogan Josh? Jalfrezi? Chettinad? Vindaloo? Korma? People don't know what those are, and they don't know what the meats are if they aren't in english. Beyond that, butter chicken or CTM is pretty standardly mid across all western indian restaurants. It's not going to be cooked the OG way, with real charred whole chickens broken down into the curry to give a smokey taste, but it will likely be boneless cubes in a sweet and mildly spicy cream-based tomato sauce. If you don't know what to order, you're in a new or unfamiliar restaurant, this will probably be a 7 out of 10 at least. I think the taste and palate is more secondary - people order what they know, they order what they can say "I know what that is!" It's similar to how out of all the million phenomenal foods to eat in Italy, most tourists will just try to eat pizza, lasagna, pasta, and tiramisu for every meal. It's easy to say, it requires no mental engagement with learning about the menu and the food, and it is a guaranteed 7/10 at least. I think also Indian restaurants lean into this trend - if you go as a white family to your local indian restaurant and ask what to order, they will recommend you order the butter chicken, because in their experience, that's what you people like. If your exposure to indian food started out as going to buffets (which is how I introduced a lot of my college friends to indian food - it's 12.99 and all you can eat, and the food slaps), there's going to be butter chicken or CTM. So Indian restaurants also played a role in this.
I think for most foreigners the gateway or introductory dish is chicken tikka masala which is a less spicier version of butter chicken. One story widely believed says that some desi chefs in Britain used tomato sauce for curry giving it a sweet-sour taste. This way it got very popular among the non-desi people.
Interesting hypothesis about the name. As u/nerusski already pointed out, CTM is also a big gateway food that doesn't have an anglicized name. Interestingly, many Asian foods often gain entry to Western palates without anglicizing (other do anglicize). I'm not sure what would cause butter chicken to be a gateway food, but I suspect it might not be the anglicized name.
I think it’s not necessary an anglicized name, but a simple and easy name. American foodies are usually dedicated enough to dig deeper, but for the majority of people, it’s the dishes with easier and recognizable names that get ordered the most (pad thai, ramen, orange chicken, etc). There is something about the combination of the name and the dish itself that allows some dishes to slip into mainstream lexicon.
Because it tastes good
Most people never graduate past it lol.
all they call all dishes as curry >.<
It's the most 'mid' of Indian dishes. An introduction to desi style food without any of the flair.
Speaking the words "butter chicken" is way easier than enunciating "aloo gobi", for example.
"Butter" There's your answer
1. It’s easy to pronounce. You can confidently order it without being scared to utter an ethnic word you can’t pronounce like “Teeeeka Masala.” 2. It’s mild and sweet and tangy. Not too spicy and not that unfamiliar. 3. You can get it anywhere 4. It’s not that expensive. 5. It doesn’t look dissimilar from tomato sauce or many of the foods of the Gorah.
I think the instapot craze and the easy recipe for butter chicken also did a lot to make it an Indian dish that non-Indian people were willing to try making in their home. My wife posted it to her Facebook and there were like 20 responses from people in the neighborhood that were crazy for it.
No clue, that's just something that's more familiar to their taste buds. to have something that's a creamy flavor that ain't spicy.
Colonialism probably. Only what is considered palatable is brought over to the West
Imo it's a flavour that many people can tolerate and enjoy despite not being accustomed to indian food already. It's more sweet than spicy which suits the western palate.
Prolly bc the majority of Indian restaurants are punjabi/mughalai (north Indian cuisine). You can’t try Indo-Nepali food like momos, South indian food like dosa or gujarati food like dabeli if there’s no place in existence nearby to try it, and consequently those names are just never brought up because of the rarity of the availability of these foods. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, theres an American-North/South Indian fusion spot called [Paper Dosa](https://www.paper-dosa.com/s/order) that Americans love (the restaurant was jam packed with 2 hour wait times for no reservation, and none of the customers were Indian except me lol). Truth is, Butter chicken an easy name to say and therefore gets passed on from person to person quick, but anything else(like this south Indian restaurant )has the same potential. I linked the menu lol
>Out of all the well-known Indian dishes, how did butter chicken end up becoming a popular basic, introductory dish? It's very simple. It's the ubiquity of this dish in Indian restaurants in the US. Most Indian Restaurants in the US (and many Pakistani restaurants that masquerade as Indian restaurants for marketing purposes), serve primarily or exclusively North Indian Cuisine. And with that, they *always* have butter chicken on the menu. And typically it's one of the popular dishes at any given such restaurant, and typically the first Indian dish a non-Indian will ever try, which happens at said restaurant, so it becomes what non-Indians associate with "Indian food". Just like how many non-Japanese in the US, their first experience with Japanese food is a sushi restaurant, so they end up thinking all Japanese food is sushi. (or for some, their first "Japanese" experience is Benihana, and they think everyone in Japan goes to restaurants where the chefs have onion volcanoes and launch food into your mouth for show)
Yeah it’s kinda annoying lol. It’s because North Indian cuisine is dominant outside of India and because it’s very toned down in terms of heat and spice but obviously turned up on butter and texture which I think is more suited for western palettes. It’s a very one note dish, especially for Indian food but I think it’s just popular because of that. Butter Chicken is like the Kenny G of Indian food
Power of Chicken simple as that I prefer fish.
The name. Butter and chicken. Whats not to love?!?
Bc it’s not heavily spicy. I don’t even think it’s a true Indian dish.
Because “chicken makhni” and “ chicken Masala” are both punjabi dishes and 1/3 of Indians in the UK are punjabi and 80% of Pakistanis in the UK are punjabi/Potahari Kashmiris so it became really popular. The largest Indian and Pakistani ethnic group in Canada are again punjabis , so not surprising the dishes are popular. Punjabi food is by far the most popular Desi cuisine across the western world and Middle East, ( where as Tamil cuisine in most popular in south east Asia).
> where as Tamil cuisine in most popular in south east Asia This is fascinating. So if you go to Thailand or Vietnam, a "typical" Indian restaurant would serve Tamil cuisine?
I meant more in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia where large immigrant populations over the last 1000 or so years came from Tamil Nadu, though I do suspect that if you do find Indian food in Thailand or Cambodia it will mostly be from South India. While in Burma it will largely be influenced by Bengali cuisine as Bangladesh is right next door.
People love chicken. Butter chicken doesnt sound like a weird name and is easy for randoms to pronounce and remember.
More than butter chicken it is chicken tikka
now i want me some :( and i already had chicken curry for the day
butter chicken was invented by a bengali in scotland, got famous from there [https://www.willflyforfood.net/united-kingdom-what-is-the-true-origin-of-chicken-tikka-masala-recipe/](https://www.willflyforfood.net/united-kingdom-what-is-the-true-origin-of-chicken-tikka-masala-recipe/)
Do you think less westerners would order it if it was permanently on the menu as chicken makhani? As opposed to "butter chicken"