Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Hints, Tips, Methods and so on.. => Cooking Equipment => Topic started by: slimboyfat on October 09, 2005, 02:39 PM
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Hi,
I was looking around for a tandoor oven to build or put in the garden and found this
http://www.barbecue-online.co.uk/acatalog/BBQ_Shop_Nipoori__Charcoal_BBQs_54.html
To be honest I don?t think it will give an authentic taste because it?s made from aluminium but then again who knows??
I also found this link for the more adventurous
http://piers.thompson.users.btopenworld.com/index.html
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I had one given for a 50th birthday present
We got it from
http://www.tandoori-oven.com/
It for outside use
We don't have the space inside
I've made Chicken tikka and naans mainly
I'm very pleased with it
I thought at one time, that it would be linked, to the "taste"
But it's not
In fact, I've been making naans in it today
I've been getting quite adventurous
I do a "curry paste/coriander/fenugreek/garlic ginger puree" naan
It's lovely
The aroma when cooking is exceptional
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Above is the uncooked naan
Here is a pile of the finished ones
They seem to keep happily for four days in a polythene bag
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They look ace Pete!!
Went on the site but there is no hint of the price! How much do these things cost?
Ray
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Scary that!
It was ?400
I was told that it would last a lifetime (as long as the ceramic inside doesn't crack)
I've used it about 20 times, now
That works out at ?20 a session, so far
The price still hurts!
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Pete
Your nan bread look good. Is it easy to slap them on the hot inside of the tandoor, then pull them off and get them out again without them falling into the fire?
Regards
George
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It was ?400
I hope that includes the VAT and shipping!
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I hope it includes personal delivery from F.H.M's babe of the month for that kinda dosh!
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I hope it includes personal delivery from F.H.M's babe of the month for that kinda dosh!
How on earth do they come up with a price of anywhere near ?400 for what amounts to be a giant flower pot? Nice if you can afford one, though, and I guess the price does include the metal frame and perhaps a gas burner and several other elements.
Regards
George
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Pete
Your nan bread look good. Is it easy to slap them on the hot inside of the tandoor, then pull them off and get them out again without them falling into the fire?
Regards
George
You get the naans roughly to the shape you want, by using a rolling pin
You then hold a special small cushion in your left hand
You drape the naan over it and make minor shape adjustments
You dip your right hand's fingers into some cold water
Dab the fingers around the edge of the naan and a bit in the middle
You then "confidently" roll it onto the side of the heated tandoor
It sticks very easily although, I always seem to lose one in a session
I have to wear an old jumper as the heat takes off you arm hairs
It is incredibly hot
The ?400 price tag was slightly cheaper than it should have been
There were delivery problems, so he knocked a bit off
I suppose the main reason I got it , was because I thought I could get the "taste"
It shows just how far, this obsession can drive you
Even though it didn't lead to the "taste", I still really enjoy using it
Everybody loves the chicken tikka I make
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Yes, I bet it really lends itself to Tikka and Tandoori. What impresses me most is the speed it cooks and the succulence of the meat when it comes out.
You can buy the internal pot seperately and build-your-own. There are one or two websites dedicated to the D.I.Y. option.
I saw a curry program recently where the presenter bought the clay pot in India and it cost ?1.00p (that much!!).
Not that I am rubbing it in at all Pete!!!!
Ray
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I have to wear an old jumper as the heat takes off you arm hairs. It is incredibly hot
Pete
Many thanks for your explanation of how to cook naan bread. I guess this is the type of procedure most chefs would be prepared readily to demonstrate without hiding any secrets.
Encouraged by your accounts and the Thompson website, I'm sold on the idea of installing a tandoor at home, just as soon as I can afford it.
Perhaps you need to construct some sort of heat-resistant sleeve. What do they use in the restaurants, where one man would presumably be cooking dozens, if not hundreds, of naan breads each session?
Regards
George
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Looks brilliant Pete,
I really wish i had space even though I live in a large apartment
I doubt I could fit it in the kitchen anyway. Besides i checked the weight,
it weighs a fair bit. What do you use to heat it? It looks gas?
There are charcoal tandooris but that must be alot more work.
I have tried a great recipe for tandoori chicken in one of
MadjurJaffery?s books that actually came from somekind
of roadside caf?, Flavours of India the book was called i think
I can put the recipe up, but i suspect you already own the book :)
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I really wish i had space even though I live in a large apartment
I doubt I could fit it in the kitchen anyway. Besides i checked the weight,
it weighs a fair bit. What do you use to heat it? It looks gas?
There are charcoal tandooris but that must be alot more work.
It runs on lpg (bottled gas)
I've got it outside because I didn't have the space
I found out later, just how much heat it packs out
If I had it in the kitchen, without some form of extraction, it would be unusable in Summer
The restaurants all use gas tandoors
Charcoal is too messy for them
It takes half an hour to get to working temperature with gas
Charcoal takes about an hour
So time is a consideration as well
With gas there is no mess to clean out, as well
If you eat the chicken tikka, when it has just been cooked, it's unbelievable
It melts in your mouth and all the spices have a brilliant vibrant flavour.
When I first tried it, I thought it wasn't cooked
But that's how it turns out
The coals you can see are permanently there
They heat up really hot
Flavours of India the book was called i think
I can put the recipe up, but i suspect you already own the book :)
I don't have that book
I would love any recipe for tandoors
Thanks
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Looks delicious!!
try this and send a report Pete
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=533.0
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Thanks, i'll post soon as I give it a go.
I cook mainly at at the weekends ,and it has to br dry weather.
That is one of the main drawbacks of having th tandoor outside
I haven't tried cooking in the dark yet!
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The restaurants all use gas tandoors. Charcoal is too messy for them.
I'm sure you're right for BIRs. But wouldn't charcoal or wood give an even better (smokey) flavour?
My hope is to build one in the garden, like the Thompson one, and fuel it with charcoal. I guess there's not much cost difference between charcoal and LPG fuel for X amount of heat generated, especially if you don't use it very often. I believe LPG is much more expensive than natural gas, like four or five times the price.
With charcoal, in India, etc. do they just let the tandoor cool, then reach in and remove the ashes, through the opening?
Regards
George
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It might be nicer but it's definitely not what the restaurants do these days
I think, until the nineties, charcoal was still used
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Yes, many restaurants used charcoal until a few years ago , and the smell was part of the restaurant smell until they stopped. [The smell , that is , of the restaurant itself , not necessarily of the food] It may also be one of the reasons why BIR's had a reputation for smelliness which was often used to oppose planning applications.
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I'd like to have a go at a small diy tandoor oven next summer, I suppose a large clay pot from the garden centre with some lit charcoals in the bottom would do a good enough job for chicken tikka, maybe.
(Pete your nans look great btw!).
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I'd like to have a go at a small diy tandoor oven next summer, I suppose a large clay pot from the garden centre with some lit charcoals in the bottom would do a good enough job for chicken tikka, maybe.
(Pete your nans look great btw!).
Thanks Nessa
They are far more tasty than ones from the supermarket
Those ones seem to almost taste the same as ordinairy bread!
There is that DIY site for making a tandoor (I think it's already been mentioned)
I'm not sure if a garden centre pot could take the heat
The tandoor is made of a dull grey clay
I don't know what it is
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Hi all
It is possible to build a tandoor from a flowerpot, try www.poptastic.com/build.php?tt_page=article&article=3. Worth a try for not a lot of money!
Cheers Tony
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Tony
Good find but it looks so ugly, like having a piece of junk in your back yard. Also, I wonder how long a thin flower pot will last before further cracks develop.
I didn't relealise that tandoors have an air vent at the bottom. Do they all have that?
Regards
George
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Hi again
If building is too much, have a look at www.tandooriq.co.uk , prices seem very reasonable-now how do I convince the other half !!!
Cheers Tony
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Hi again
? ? ? ? ? ?If building is too much, have a look at www.tandooriq.co.uk , prices seem very reasonable-now how do I convince the other half !!!
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Cheers Tony? ? ? ?
Hi Tony
I looked at this tandoor before I bought mine from Shaan tandoors.
There is nothing wrong with the tandooriq and it is cheaper
The misgivings I had about the tandooriq were all mis founded
I ased a chef about it and I think , as he was unfamiliar with the apparatus, it put me off.
I thought you might not be able to do naans (but you apparantly can)
I was worried that you cooked with the lid off (you don't have to with mine)
I didn't like the use of charcoal, as restaurants don't use that anymore (you can get a gas baffle if you want)
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My hope is to build one in the garden, like the Thompson one, and fuel it with charcoal.
More recently Chilli Prawn said: "...I think George...has also made his own out of bits & pieces but not the proper pot."
Yes, thats' still the intention - to cobble something together for about ?10 (I'm not joking) and try it out this summer. If it produces good tikkas and naan bread, I'll be pleased to report back here and may even prepare a web page showing how it was done. If it doesn't work, at least I'll have tried.
Regards
George
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I would be very interested to hear about that George.
You could always post a report here including pictures....
Stew
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You could always post a report here including pictures....
Yes, of course I will, if it works, that is!. Any separate web page (in addition) would only be if I feel it's worth going into the same sort of construction detail as a couple of other DIY tandoor builders have done.
Objectives:
- very cheap
- gets up to 500C ++ (or whatever proves optimal)
- produces tikka and naan bread to match or surpass the best BIRs
- can also double-up as a bread oven. e.g for making French baguettes
- located outdoors and is reasonably attractive to look at, like a high-quality barbecue might be seen as.
Regards
George
PS Is there any way of customising the spell check dictionary? It flagged up non-recognition on tikka, naan and BIRs!