Topic: DIY Tandoor

[docpini]

Tandoori chicken from the DIY Tandoor.....
'the Doc'

[raygraham]

Looks awesome. bet you're the envy of all the neighbourhood. Don't think my wife would like it much if I dumped the dishwasher and installed one of these babies in the kitchen!!

Ray G

[George]

Doc

Can you tell us a bit about the tandoor, please? I can see a bag of charcoal so I guess that's the best heat source for flavour.  Is the tandoor entirely home made, based on a bought-in core, or what?

Regards
George

[pete]

Being as a bike is in the picture, you can assume that the tandoor is situated near a door.
If it's charcoaled fuelled it would need some serious ventilation.
It would kick out as much smoke as a barbeque, when it's lit.
I have just bought a book on tandoors called "tandoor by ranjit rai"
Apparently they are used, in various shapes and forms, all over the world.
The insides are always very similar, though.
The lip of this one looks ceramic and fairly standard, but the outside looks extra worn.
Maybe it's very old.
I spoke to a restaurant owner and he said he got fifteen years use out of a second hand one!
It's life ends when the ceramic inside, cracks beyond repair.

[deelay]

Hi all. I would love to know thats inside the blocks, is it just a shelf halfway up for the chicken to sit on and coals under it??

[CurryCanuck]

Traditionally wood is used but charcoal & lava rock are the norm in  these ovens . Meats are skewered & breads are placed one the brick surface . Chicken when placed in the oven usually run afoul of the flames

CC

[George]

Hi all. I would love to know thats inside the blocks, is it just a shelf halfway up for the chicken to sit on and coals under it??

deelay

I assume you mean: 'what's inside the blocks?' If so, here's a cutaway image which gives some idea of the likely basic construction of the device photographed at the start of this thread. The essential element (inside) is a clay 'tandoor', a bit like a huge flower pot. Around that is some heat insulation and the outside can be brick, metal or anything that can stand the intense heat. There's no shelf inside (not normally anyway). Chefs tend to use long skewers like the ones seen in the original photo. The bottom of each skewer sits in charcoal at the bottom of the tandoor with chicken or whatever suspended about half way up. Charcoal provides the best flavour but gas is more convenient.

Regards
George

[snowdog]

Did anyone ever see that episode of Delhi Belly where they looked at tandoori cooking?

They showed tandoors being made by hand in sizes from biscuit tin all the way up to washing machine, and they sold for only a few dollars (though I know to get them shipped over here (UK) would cost hundreds, and of course there's Customs after that).

Getting a proper tandoor one day is one of my ambitions in life.

This guy had the right idea:

http://piers.thompson.users.btopenworld.com/index.html

[extrahotchillie]

All we need in the UK is the weather

[snowdog]

That's true.

Mind you, there's no reason why a tandoor can't be viewed as a variation on a barbecue, and the UK weather doesn't stop people using (and abusing) those