Topic: Homemade Tandoori oven construction photos and blog

[Unclebuck]

Hi Chaps,

I'm just about done in construction now had one small test fire[sorry no pics] before insulating checking for any little holes/leaks all seemed OK so Ive finished the brick work, filled the void with perlite and screeded the top in, concrete with dye and a lick of paint! going to do another small test fire before i start using it in anger  ill get the next test fire pics up soon. UB.


Brick work up and pointed


Perlite insulation


Finished and Ready for action!!

I do need to make a cover for it as the snails love it!! they think ive made them a house! if they dont up sticks and leave soon im going to have snail tikka

[joshallen2k]

Snail tikka... that's fusion cuisine if I've ever heard it!

Awaiting that first tikka/naan report!

Great job UB!

[JerryM]

impressive concrete screeding with dye even.

looks the job.

tikka is marinating and aiming to try out on friday. i left the chicken as whole breasts to go on the skewer as 1 off pieces.

[haldi]

That looks amazing
I hope everything works out
When I cook Chicken Tikka, I cut the breasts longways in half
Then thread each bit in and out of the skewer, so they don't slip off.
If it's good quality chicken they will stay on
If it's poor, or thawed from frozen, I put a bit of raw potato at the bottem of the skewer, to stop them falling off.
At one takeaway I visit they use whole chicken breasts
But I'm always a little worried they might not be cooked through
It's quite hard to tell, really

I heat my tandoor for half an hour, then cook the tikka for fifteen minutes
It's a little odd, but the tandoor is hottest near the top
Not, nearest the flames
The skewers heat up and cook the chicken from the middle too
It's a triple heat with the tandoor walls and heat from below too.
I can't wait for your report
Well done UB

[Curry Barking Mad]

I have seen in a restaurant kitchen where they cut the breast of chicken lengthways as Haldi says but they carefully skewer the chicken on skewers that have been in the tandoor for a few minutes, you can hear the chicken sizzle as they thread them on,
this also ensures a quicker cooking of the middle of the chicken and the chicken never slides off the skewer,
Bob

[Unclebuck]

Thanks Chaps, its going to be fun working out how to use this thing! i sure im going to lose a naan or two 

[chilli head]

hi unclebuck,
         This is the best looking tandoor I've ever seen and i really hope it works OK.
 A little trick to cooking nans is to get the oven hot enough and then just before you put the Nana on the side near the top put some water with your hand on the face of the Nana and then pat the wet side to the hot side of the oven this stops it from sticking too much and makes it easy to get the Nana off as it makes the Base slightly harder and therefore easy to hold on the hooked bit as you slowly remove it, I lost a few at first with the oven being too hot or too cold you tend to get a feel for it after a bit and if you add just a bit of charcoal on a night and close down the draft holes top and bottom it will stay lit for 24 hours or more.
Good luck mate Andy

[JerryM]

Haldi & Achmal,

thanks for the cooking instructions - very timely.

weather was good tonight so pre cooked ready for curry tomorrow.

i cut the breasts in half lengthways and the trick of heating the skewer works a treat. the 15 mins cooking time seemed good too.

pics for info.

[joshallen2k]

Jerry - what exactly is that you cooked the tikka in?

[JerryM]

it's a chiminea - have added photo. we use it for heat and ambiance when sitting outside. i get a lot of buck she wood via trade and the chiminea uses it up real quick.

i'm not sure it's a long term solution for tikka - i don't think it gets that much hotter than my gas bbq and certainly does not reach tandoor temp (u need the flames to die down to be able to cook, but when the flames go so does much of the temp).

my thinking was a "test" to gauge if a UB tandoori would be worth the effort to the family. the chiminea might turn out a midway compromise - it certainly was easier than using the bbq.