Tandoor

Baking has many popular variations and baking in a tandoor is a popular way of making naan bread in India and now worldwide.

Tandoor also known as tandoori oven is a curved cylindrical pot made of clay and they have been used to prepare breads and marinated meats or vegetables in India and Pakistan for centuries.

The tandoor is divided into two parts. The lower part where the charcoal fire is built and the upper part where breads and meats are baked. The heat is regulated by opening and closing a vent at the bottom in conjunction with a lid at the top that covers a wide mouth.

The direct heat from the charcoal can reach to 600⁰F. Marinated meats are lowered into the tandoor on long metal skewers and cooked quickly in this smoky and extremely hot charcoal thus locking in juices and resulting in deliciously moist meat.

Bread is slapped on to the heated wall where it sticks and bakes from a combination of heat stored in the wall and from heat rising from the embers from the oven floor.

Not being blessed with the funds for a tandoor, I have used my oven for making Tandoori Chicken and the results are amazing although that level of smokiness can be achieved only by tandoors. I have used the barbeque for making Tandoori Chicken and Seekh Kebabs. The low, indirect heat and smoke achieves a certain amount of smokiness to the meat. On the other hand, I have used the oven to bake my Naans with very pleasing results.

Modern tandoors which can be run on gas, electricity, charcoal and wood are now used all over the world to cook tandoori food.