THE INDIAN curry not only threatens to overtake fish and chips as the national dish but also helps 9,000 Indian food restaurants in Britain achieve a turnover exceeding £ 1.5 billion a year.
The readymade, packaged Indian meal industry has now a business touching £ 400 million. Of this, the share of chicken tikka masala and balti curry is about £ 2 billion. The turnover is likely to climb up further as more and more stores in Europe are starting to display them on their shelves.
A panel, which included film producer and cookery writer Ismail Merchant, G.K. Noon, MBE, whose packaged food factories have a 40 per cent share of the ready-meal market, and Simon Sturl of the Curry Club, revealed amazing facts about the popularity of the Indian curry during an animated discussion at the Nehru Centre in London.
A book, Curry in the Crown, by journalist Shrabani Basu was also released by Merchant. She has traced the story of Britain’s love affair with Indian cuisine from its roots in colonial days. The book, published by Harper Collins, is bound to boost the cause of the curry in this country. H.E. Mr A.H. Mahmood, High Commissioner for Bangladesh, recalled the remark of Mr Lalit Mansingh, designated India’s Foreign Secretary at an earlier occasion, that while the British took India with gun powder, India has captured Britain with curry powder. Mr Mahmood talked about the special chefs of the Sylhet region, whose descendants are in Britain in legions.
The Indian chicken tikka masala curry is now the most popular dish competing well with the balti curry. The Marks and Spencer claim that a packet of the tikka masala curry is picked up every four seconds from the network of their stores, the total turnover being about 19 tonnes every month.
The panel agreed that the tikka masala curry is an innovation for the British palate. Some British customer possibly ordered the dish but when he found there was no curry, he demanded it. The chef poured some curry to satisfy him. Thus, the tikka masala curry was born. The balti curry is an innovation, most possibly by the chefs who came from Bangladesh and seized Birmingham. Now, many pubs, the bastion of Britishness have also included tikka masala curry, rice and papad in their menu.