Butter Chicken in Mumbai v/s Butter Chicken in Delhi

Ask any Indian foodie what their favorite desi dish is, and most would exclaim, “Butter chicken, of course!” You would agree that there is something sinfully decadent and satisfying about eating a plate of well-made butter chicken. It satiates you like nothing else does – though most people also agree that it does no favors to their waistlines!

The butter chicken dish was said to be invented in Delhi in the early 1920s, by a clever tandoori chicken seller who improvised a dish out of his leftover chicken pieces. The story goes that he prepared a curry for the leftover chicken pieces to soak up, so that the food could be sold and he would not make a loss. Another theory goes that the butter chicken was first prepared in the kitchens of Moti Mahal in Daryagunj. It was said to be an experiment with existing Indian curries, using tomato chunks and butter instead of oil.

Delhi is thus known as the birthplace of butter chicken, but the dish is now found all over the country to lip smacking results. Still, the two main food centers of the country – Delhi and Mumbai – arguably serve the best butter chicken dishes in India.

Delhi butter chicken: The fundamental difference between the butter chicken found in Mumbai and that in Delhi is the treatment of the chicken itself. In Delhi, chefs roast or char grill the chicken after marinating it in herbs and salt. The curry, too, may be prepared using local tomatoes for a deeper color and more zing. Though butter forms the major base for the curry, it is perfectly balanced with a host of spices. The chicken is cooked slowly to ensure that its juices remain intact, and is served in succulent pieces doused in fiery red curry.

Mumbai butter chicken: The butter chicken found in India’s busiest city is milder and sweeter than its fuller-bodied Delhi counterpart. The chicken is often cooked raw with the curry instead of being pre-roasted. The curry is often sweeter and not spicy to the palate. While Delhi eats kebabs and tandoor roti with its butter chicken, Mumbai prefers the fattier butter naan or roomali roti.

Take a culinary trip to explore the many tastes of butter chicken in Delhi and Mumbai. Book a Mumbai to Delhi flight to embark on your tasting sojourn. Once your flight tickets are booked, start by sampling the best varieties of butter chicken in Mumbai and then move on to do the same in Delhi. So whether you find the clear winner in each city, your taste buds and tummy will sing with happiness!

Many images, many backgrounds – that’s life as a traveller

It is said that education is not earned simply by sitting at a desk and taking notes – it needs reiteration with a world view. But how can one get a world view if one does not step out of the places he is familiar with?

Travelling to other cities and countries is the answer. Just a single trip out of town is enough to broaden one’s horizons. Travelling frequently, using different modes of transport, eating whatever food is available and interacting with the locals teaches many lessons in empathy and enhances our understanding of the world. But if you want to cut down on travel time, flying to your destination and experiencing it on foot or using local transport is the best way to go.

We recommend checking the domestic flight offers available during your desired travel period so that you get the best deals on air tickets. Once your tickets are booked, you can sit back and contemplate the many benefits of travel, chief among which are:

• A change of scenery always helps. You may have the best life back home, but there are times when you just want to pack your bags and leave for unknown shores. Work stress,, several family responsibilities, mounting job pressures…all of these combine to make you feel ill and stagnant. Travelling is the best way to step off the treadmill of life for a while, mainly to get a change of location to improve your mood.
  
  
• It challenges your limits. Your holiday may not always follow a predictable curve. You might lose your bags, the place you are staying at may face a natural disaster, you might fall ill, you might wish you had never left home…there are challenges galore when you travel. Facing them and trumping these obstacles gives a sense of achievement, of having ‘grown up’ enough to surmount a problem. This is a good motivational tool.
  
  
• It introduces you to different cultures. Staying in one place for long, meeting the same people at work and in the neighbourhood, and watching the same TV serials every day can give you a myopic world view. It is time to expand your horizons by seeing new places, experiencing a way of life in an unfamiliar terrain, eating new food and learning other communities’ customs. These experiences help put our own lives in perspective, making us realise many truths about our own existence.
  
  
• Travel also pampers you. You need not always travel rough or hold your purse strings tightly booking a luxurious vacation simply to unwind and have others wait on you is a blissful experience. You can book yourself into a five star hotel, cheat on your diet with the choicest food, sleep all day, and have drinks by the pool. Then when night comes, you can either dance away at a pub or curl up on the bed with a romantic comedy film.