The origin of the dish is not certain, but many sources attribute it to the South Asian community in Great Britain.

Chicken masala may derive from butter chicken, a popular dish in the northern Indian subcontinent. The Multicultural Handbook of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics credits its creation to Bangladeshi migrant chefs in the 1960s, after migrating to Britain from Bangladesh. At the time, these migrant chefs developed and served a number of new inauthentic “Indian” dishes, including chicken masala.

Historians of ethnic food, Peter and Colleen Grove, discuss multiple origin-claims of chicken masala, concluding that the dish “was most certainly invented in Britain, probably by a Bangladeshi chef”.They suggest that “the shape of things to come may have been a recipe for Shahi Chicken Masala in Mrs Balbir Singh’s Indian Cookery published in 1961

Recipe

Step 1 Wash and clean the chicken
To make Masala Chicken, first thoroughly wash the chicken under running water. Now put it in some warm salted water and allow it to rest for 10 minutes and throw the water away and wash again. This helps to remove the smell of the chicken.

Step 2 Saute whole spices
Add oil and ghee in pan and heat over medium flame. When the oil is hot enough, add bay leaves and both the cardamom and cinnamon. Saute for a minute and then add finely chopped onion into it. Cook till onions turn pink. Then add the ginger-garlic paste. Fry for a minute and then add chicken pieces in it. Cook chicken for 2-3 minutes until it turns white.

Step 3 Add spices in frying chicken
Quickly, add Sam masale Chicken masala and some salt according to your taste. Stir to mix all the ingredients well with the chicken. Cook for a minute and then add finely chopped tomatoes and green chillies (slit and halved). Now reduce the flame and cook covered for 6-7 minutes and then uncovered till the chicken is browned.

Step 4 Cook for 2-4 minutes with closed lid and serve hot
Add one cup water and cover the pan with a lid and cook for 2-4 minutes until the chicken is tender and soft. Remove the lid and garnish with garam masala powder, coriander leaves, kasoori methi powder and cook on high flame till the oil separates. Your Masala Chicken or Chicken Masala is ready. Enjoy with butter naan, rice or roti.