Hi Panpot

I used CA's recipe for the naans but was too impatient to leave the dough in the fridge overnight.

The texture was spot-on but I still obviously need to get the hang of cooking with this beast

I will probably try Dipuraja's recipe next

I am so impressed with this Tandoor just a shame it hasnt got a lid

Hi Solarsplace
tbh it was hit and miss. Averaged 50% success rate.
The heat is fearsome
Im going to take the easy option and get some welding type gloves before my hands look like Freddy Krueger's

Blade2112s Tikka. I use 2 dsp Rajah Tandoori Massala instead of the pataks paste, no salt




Naan No3. The first two suffered a painful death lol. Cooking time 45 sec - 1 minute... I left one in for a bit longer and it spontaneously combusted....now thats HOT!!
Pic taken at about 4pm


First Keema nan It may look overcooked but it wasn't at all 

Hey thank you all for the useful tips.
As is usually the case I think its all down to technique.
The way the kebabs are formed on the skewer is an art in itself! Didn't try the hot skewers tho - my hand have had enough punishment today with the naans!!!. CA's suggestion for the breadcrumbs helped. I added 2 tbsp and they did improve the consistency. I did notice that as the kebabs were cooking, they were breaking apart so I started forming them from one ball of keema rather than the way I saw "Chef Ramsay" being shown Gordon Ramsay tries to work a clay oven Ray i think you hit the nail on the head though with the wet cold hands - im sure there is a split second in that video where he has water dripping off his hand (2'53"ish)- will try that next time. Thanks guys for the link for the Restaurant charcoal too. I spent the best part of two hours trying to buy some today. Lets face it bags of Charcoal are as common as ice cream vans this time of year lol The only drawback with this tandoor is the lack of a lid. I can soon make one though so its no real problem. Just wished I'd studied the info a bit closer. Tried CA's Nans Today but didn't leave the dough in the fridge overnight but the results were still very very good - especially the keema naans Will be investing in a welders glove all the same
I will post some pics tomorrow

Regards
Mick

It was my birthday the other day and my wife bought me a tandoor from spicesofindia. It arrived yesterday so rather excitedly I started to marinate some chicken tikka (blade2112). Didnt get any instructions with it but i know from their website that it will need using 4 or 5 times before i am able to cook any naans. I fired it up at 12.30 and gave it 3 hours to heat up. In that time i used about 4 kg charcoal. While i was waiting, i
decided to make some CA's Sheek kebabsI slid the chicken onto the skewers and then put a piece of lemon on last to stop the chicken slipping down the skewer.The Chicken was cooked in about 15 minutes. Not convinced the tandoor was up to correct temp but still it was the tastiest and most succulent  I have tasted by far.The CA kebabs were a different story. Most of them parted company with the skewers.
I think the amount of binding ingredients needs increasing slightly but to be fair I used 1 Kg of mince instead of the 800g specified. I upped all the ingredients a bit to offset that but stuck to 1 egg as per CA's recipe. Going to have another go at them today and try upping the flour a bit and using 2 eggs - that is unless anyone has some better ideas?
Regards
Mick

Anyone got any good tips for getting the best out of a charcoal fired home Tandoor ?http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Tandoor-Oven.html

Regards
Mick

Hi bjplayer
Happy New Year to all members!!
imho you dont need to waste your money on any books. All the info you need is on this forum. Half the fun is trying to figure out all the bits to the jig saw. You can be sure that every question you might have has already been answered on this forum somewhere
Best Regards
Mick

Hi Phil try
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2815.0
Regards
Mick

Talking to a waiter in my local ta last night and he said that between 1974 -78 he used to work in the kitchens prepping the veg and making the gravy. In those days hand blenders wern't around and they had to blend it by forcing the gravy through a collinder type thing. He said that alone would take 2 hours per pan. The pan was so big he had to wash it out with a hosepipe in the back yard. I asked him how big the pot was and he indicated it was about four foot diameter and about four foot high!! He told me they used to cut the chicken up and cook it in the gravy as well. I asked him why curries tasted different in the "good old days" and he said that for one thing there were only limited spices available back then, and also that technology has changed the way curries are made (read into that whatever you like). So in conclusion I would like to be able to confirm that Gravy / Base sauce was usaed in BIR's in the 70's

Quote from: Razor on November 13, 2010, 03:36 PM

I had a madras last night from my local TA, and it was just devine.  I could taste a hint of lemon, I could taste a hint of garlic, ginger and chili but there was still a taste/smell that eludes me and many others I suspect.  It's that, that I'm more interested in.

I agree with you Ray. Since I started cooking curries from this forum I tend to buy less takeaways (obviously) and recently I have been satisfied with my own dishes. However a few months ago I went to an excellent restaurant in Coventry and literally a split second before I ate that first spoonful  I smelt that elusive aroma that some of us are striving for. So George I think your point that our memories of tastes fade over time is true but I dont think they are ever entirely forgotten