Two Indian restaurant chains are locked in a legal battle over claims to the origins of butter chicken.

Owners of Moti Mahal, a famed Delhi restaurant, have filed a lawsuit against rival chain Daryaganj, for falsely claiming to have invented the dish, as well as dal makhani (buttered lentils).

Moti Mahal claims its founder, Kundan Lal Gujral, created butter chicken in the 1930s when the restaurant first opened in Peshawar, Pakistan, before it moved to Delhi.

Daryaganj, established in 2019, claims a member of its founding family, Kundan Lal Jaggi partnered with Moti Mahal`s Gujral to open the Delhi restaurant in 1947, and the dish was invented there, so it has the right to also lay claim to the dish`s creation.

The Gujral family is seeking $240,000 in damages, and is also alleging that Daryaganj has copied the layout of Moti Mahal`s website and `the look and feel` of its restaurants.

Testimonies of people who can link the brand to the dish they consumed decades ago could be critical to the case.