Tandoor Cooking at Home

[biggamelv]

I've had a tandoor at my home for two years now. If anyone would like to discuss their successes or failures I would be glad to help. Ive had my share of disasters but very happy with the incredible results!

biggame

Las Vegas

[Monica Bhide]

I would love to hear about your experiences. What is your favorite thing to prepare in the tandoor. Tell us a bit about it.. where did you get it? how has it worked? what have you done (if anything) in terms of maintianing it? what advice would you give folks who want to buy one? If your care to share.. a funny disaster story would be right up there with my goof ups!!

[biggamelv]

Sorry in getting back so late...

I've been a fan of Indian Cuisine for quite some time. Here in Las Vegas we have about four or five very good restaurants. I became interested in tandoor cooking while watching the cook preparing meals using this thing called a tandoor (I had no idea what was involved). I tried cooking flatbreads in my conventional oven but using a bread stone but never got the results like the restaurants. So, I spent a lot of time researching the tandoor but found that hardly any material exists to explain it let alone cook in it.

I found Piers Thompson's site on constructing an outdoor tandoor, it was helpful, but what was tough was finding the clay liner itself. Many manufacturers produce tandoors but they are always inside a metal structure, not the liner itself which I wanted. I found a site in India (Marwah tools) that would ship the tandoor to Los Angeles, but I would have to have it shipped to Vegas, I was scared about this because the tandoor (clay) is very fragile (it's not been fired) and didn't want it to break. Luckily our local Indain market's owner is a friend of mine and secured a tandoor thru his supplier out of L.A. and I picked it up at his store. I talked with some of the chefs who work with tandoors, they all said to coat the interior to seal the clay (mainly because of the clay peeling off into your breads, not very tasty) use a mixture of mustard oil, spinach leaves, salt, jaggery, and yogurt, bring to boil and apply to the walls of a slightly heated tandoor. Remember to heat the tandoor *lightly* at first and cover and let it stay heated for 24 hours. Slowly increase your temperature. After installing it and constructing a brick shell filled with sand (similiar to Thompson's) I started cooking and found out the *most* important thing with this cooking -

charcoal.

A great charcoal (hardwood mesquite is very good, try to get only large chunks, smaller ones are not practical) will give the flavor that everyone can instantly recognize. Do not bother with a gas tandoor (these are useless - completely without flavor). And slightly less important is the temp. You've really got to get these hot and I mean *hot*. Typically, it takes about three hours to get mine hot enough to cook. Remember, the heat has to penetrate the clay just like a baking stone. You'll know when its very hot when you cannot even lighty touch the tandoor or cannot put your arm inside for more than a couple of seconds. Here is a tip - to know if your a tandoor cook just look at one's arm, it should have no hair on it because the oven will certainly have burned it off over the years! Once it been heated then you can lower it a little to cook breads. I make my bread cushion with small tea towels. Get a small wire hanger unfold it and bend it into a circle about 5 or 6 inches (usually you can get two winds with one hanger). Wrap a small towel around the circle so it becomes thicker. Then you can tie two or three more towels around the entire piece and tie the knots in the middle of the back of the cushion and you will get a nice soft but firm bread cushion, the knots serve as a place to put your thumb under so you can grap the cushion a lot easier. A good trick before you cook breads each time you start up the tandoor is take a quart of water and a couple tbl. of salt, mix and dip a towel into. Take the towel and spin it around the top of the inside of a heated tandoor, this will minimize your bread sticking. Naan is not easy to make if you want it done right. I think the most frustrating thing has been the breads, either they stick to the walls (not hot enough tandoor/or too much sugar) or they fall off into the dreaded coals (not enough water applied to the bread), your blood will boil when it happens, you work so hard on bread dough (it takes hours) just to have it become a smoldering, smoking mess! I'll share any recipe if anyone's interested...

Cooking meats, however, is very fun, the smell of tandoor chicken, the smoke coming out is incredible! You need reliable sikhs and need to skewer the chicken or other meat in a way that it won't fall off (slide down) the sikh when you place it in the oven. Just weave the meat up and down onto the sikh, it becomes easy once you get the hang of it, but always remember to let the marinade rest on the meat at room temp. for at least 15 minutes. THis will give the marinade some time to dry off (especially the yogurt). Try to cook at a high temp but away from open flame, you can keep the sikh away by planting it into the ash accumulated at the bottom, and keep the top lid slightly open. This keeps all that smoke inside!

Sorry for the long post, I had some extra time, if anyone has any questions, I would love to help or would love to find out more from other cooks!

J. P. Smith

Las Vegas

[mongo_jones]

You need reliable sikhs and need to skewer the chicken or other meat in a way that it won't fall off (slide down) the sikh when you place it in the oven. Just weave the meat up and down onto the sikh, it becomes easy once you get the hang of it, but always remember to let the marinade rest on the meat at room temp. for at least 15 minutes. THis will give the marinade some time to dry off (especially the yogurt). Try to cook at a high temp but away from open flame, you can keep the sikh away by planting it into the ash accumulated at the bottom, and keep the top lid slightly open.

but what are people who live in areas where there are no sikhs to do?

[Monica Bhide]

Mongo -- very funny

I think what he means is seekhs or skewers.

[deliad]

but what are people who live in areas where there are no sikhs to do?

Mongo,

Then they go to New Delhi and find a reliable Sikh with a Seekh. Reminds me of the Seekh Chicken Tikka and Fish Tikka made by one very reliable Sikh, Paramjit Machchi Wala, right next to Natraj cinema in Moti Nagar.

My mouth is watering just thinking about what we had in August last when I was there.

Cheers!

[biggamelv]

Sikh/seehk

Obvious type o...sorry about that!

[dumpling]

But I'm sure that every Sikh you made was good enough to Singh.

[Episure]

Dont Tikka a chance, you have to be fast with your Sikh/Seekh, or your arm will Singe.

Seekho Seekho!

[v. gautam]

Dear Friends,

Very, very naughty!! Do give Mr. Smith a chance to describe his breads, without further hassles. Love you all.

Mr. Smith, anxiously waiting for your detailed descriptions of your adventures with bread; particularly, have you made Tandoori Roti, and if so, what flour(s) gave you the best results?

Also, with naans, do you find the ones using only chemical leavening to cook drier -less puffy, stretchy- than ones using some yeast as well? do you have any advice re developing a 'gluten window' for naans; am very interested in the extensibility factor in the breads you have made.

Finally, how about stuffed naans? your thoughts and successes with them.

Thank you so very much for putting up with this sustained Inquisition.

Warmest regards.

P.S. Episure, will PM you in a day or two.

Edited January 29, 2004 by v. gautam (log)

[Episure]

Dear J. P. Smith

I am curious to know how much did the Tandoor cost you. The price in India ranges from Rs. 900 to Rs. 2000 depending on the size.

You might want to keep a water atomiser handy to wet your arms. It also comes in useful to spray on the meat or onto the coals to compensate for imperfect tandoor temperature.

And a slightly different metal tandoor can be seen here-Roti Tandoor

This is from an earlier post on Ramzan food.

Regards

Episure

[BBhasin]

Dear J. P. Smith

You might want to keep a water atomiser handy to wet your arms.

Now you will not burn your arms, they will just steam very well.

Sorry could'nt resist that

bhasin

[Episure]

Dear J. P. Smith

You might want to keep a water atomiser handy to wet your arms.

Now you will not burn your arms, they will just steam very well.

Sorry could'nt resist that

bhasin

Arrgh! Just when I've switched out of the punning mode.

"In baahon(arms) mein bahut dum(strength/steam) hai."

Mr. J.P.Smith, please rise to the occasion by responding and help us get out of this silly banter.

[biggamelv]

My tandoor cost about $450US. The supplier comes out of Los Angeles.

I believe the most crucial ingredient in bread, which most people take for granted, is the Flour. The flour can alter the taste and texture very easily. For example, authentic naan is made with maida which is a soft winter wheat flour. In the US we call it *pastry flour*. Bread flour usually has too much protein content (which is why it is used in bread making to give you that terrific crust and crumb) to be used in naan. All purpose flour is also great to use but make sure it is not bromated or bleached. I'm partial to as an organic a flour you can get. They always will rise better and with no added chemicals. So try the different varieties to see what you like the best, even mix different flours together.

I prefer to use no added yeast, just let the dough rise in areas (i.e. a proofing basket that you never wash) where wild yeast spores can add flavor. Also, try using curd in the dough. I've also tried using butter milk in the dough which gives a real rich pastry texture.

If you'll look up a naan recipe there are thousands! So try the basic recipe and add/delete ingredients and experiment. When I fire up the tandoor I'll make 3-4 different naan recipes, a paratha and a roti so I can serve a variety with a meal. A basic naan recipe would be flour/baking powder/salt/sugar/water/milk. Remember the heat in the tandoor will be hot enough so don't use a lot of powder.

Extras to experiment - kalonji, curd, butter/ghee, buttermilk, and I'm sure a zillion other things! Oh, one last thing *always* sift your flour (and dry ingredients)before mixing. It will hydrate with the liquid much easier.

J.P.

Las Vegas

P.S. (kinda tough to cook with the tandoor here lately, got down to 25F last night, impossible with an outdoor oven!)

[tryska]

*lol*!

i'm sorry but y'all are some punny bastards!

and jp i'm very jealous of you and your tandoor.

[v. gautam]

Episure,

Could you please comment on how the metal tandoor is similar to/different than the sajj, the convex dome used to bake roomali roti. This dome seems to be flatter and resting directly on a charcoal fire? the cobbles under the fire are interesting, as is there not an Iranian bread called sangak, after the pebbles on which it is baked?

Re Puns, lookking at the photo, I see why this is truly Pao Roti!!

Regards.

[Episure]

J.P.,

More than a fan of Indian cusine, you are a Guru.

$450 = Rs. 9000/-

I've tried Apple and Cherry woods on Nans but we are so used to the Charcoal smoke as a standard that I reserve those for grilling meats only.

Re: Pav Roti

v.gautam, you are sick as I am. For your pun I shall pay you a tenor.

Re: Full Metal Jacket Tandoor, it is the same shape as a Clay Tandoor only more spherical. There is an illusion of a convex dome, actually the Roti is stuck on the inside wall.

I did'nt know the Roomali Roti inverted convex tawa was called Sajj, thanks for educating me.

Edited February 15, 2004 by Episure (log)

[M65]

$450 = Rs. 9000/-

Not a favorable exchange rate Episure, i think, lol :)

Edited February 19, 2004 by M65 (log)

[Episure]

You are right! Perhaps I wasnt feeling too (or twenty)grand when I posted that rate.

$ 450 = Rs. 20250