All About Tandoor.....Clay Oven

The curvaceous oven

The heart of Indian barbecue is the tandoor, a handsome, barrel-shaped oven of fine clay - traditionally bound with grain husks and animal hair - that recalls the vessel in which Ali Baba hid out from those persistent 40 thieves. The cook ignites a charcoal fire on the floor of the oven and the heat rises to a searing level midway up, only to cool down by the time it reaches the top. Everything from chicken to lamb to fish to bread is slipped into this versatile chamber, emerging not long after with an earthy taste and fragrance imparted by the clay walls. Meats and fish come out moist and tender thanks to the intense heat and quick cooking. Alas, the oven's curvaceous form is usually out of sight, whether sunk into the earth, as in old-fashioned Indian homes, or built in stainless steel housing, the style preferred by Indian restaurants from New Delhi to London to Berkeley. You can get a peek at the mouth of one of these countertop tandoors and its consummate cook at any Indian Restaurant around the world or at the more modest Indian Restaurant in your neighborhood, where exhibition kitchens make watching the action easy.

A Persian birth Although Indian history records a complex urban civilization and a thriving agrarian economy as far back as 2500 B.C., this ancient and sophisticated culture cannot take credit for the invention of the country's now-indispensable tandoor. Most food scholars trace its origin to the tanoo oven of northeastern Persia (contemporary Iran). From there it spread throughout central Asia and into northern India, where it was initially pressed into service for baking breads, its primary role in its birthplace and now mastered for export to every country in the world. Most people in the living world know the origin of the Clay oven from northern parts of India where it is made the most and the best as of date

The Kumhaar Touch Since ages the people who mastered the art of moulding clay to make it as a cooking medium are known as the Kumhaar's. These artisans turn clay into an oven with their hands without using any machines.

Material Used - Material used is plastic clay (without sand) mixed with munj (a kind of grass).

Modeling Method of making Tandoors

Step I: Once the clay is ready for use, slabs about 120-150 mm wide, 500-600 mm long and 20-30 mm thick, are made. Some dry clay is sieved on to these and then they are rolled into cylinders. These cylinders are then unrolled into a sort of semi-circle. Two or three such unrolled cylinders are molded together into a circle. This circle forms the base of the clay oven.

Step II: After the base is made, the uppermost part of this ring is pinched at intervals to create little notches. It is then left to dry overnight so that it becomes hard and ready to receive the weight of the next ring.

Step III: When the clay has dried to the correct hardness, another ring is fused on top of this ring. This smooth and wet clay ring fits on top of the earlier ring, especially where the notches have been pinched. This is designed to give the clay oven firmness and stability. Subsequent sections are then added until the required height is attained.

Step IV: This involves the shaping of the last section on top, widely known in the international segment as 'The Mouth' which is turned in wards by hand and shaped like the upper part of a pitcher. A lot of buyers overseas have asked me weather a turning machine "like those in wood working' is used to make these mouths.

Step V: The last step before the clay pots are dried in the open air is to lock the rim around the mouth with a tensile steel belt using the tensioning mechanism. To further increase the strength of the clay pot specially made jute wrapping is applied on the outside. This helps in the wear and tear of the clay pot while packing or fitting.

The clay oven is now complete but it is still not a complete Tandoor till it is fitted in the earth or a metal container or even in a counter at a restaurant & treated by the head chef 'Tandooria'

A Peshawar refinemen

Although Persians can claim the design of the tandoor, 19th century cooks in the northwest Indian city of Peshawar (now in Pakistan) are responsible for its legendary versatility. They came up with the idea of using the tandoor for cooking meats, fabricating thin metal spikes for holding the food. That brainstorm proved simple and practical: Small whole chickens and chunks of lamb, marinated in a spice-laced (but not chile-hot) yogurt mixture and brushed with ghee (clarified butter), are threaded onto long iron skewers. They are then lowered into the tandoor, with the pointed ends resting in the glowing coals and the tops leaning against the oven's neck. Every now and again the skewers are pulled out, the foods are brushed with a little ghee and/or marinade, and then the skewers are returned to the tandoor. This  inspired technique yields a flavor bonus: The food absorbs both the subtle earthy scent naturally released by the clay and the wisps of fragrant smoke created by errant drops of marinade falling onto white-hot coals.

Expanding menu

An order of tandoori murg (chicken) and nan, accompanied by lemon or lime wedges, onion slices and achar (pickles) and/or chutney, is still arguably the most popular tandoori meal, with boti kebab (lamb cubes) a close second. But the clay oven repertoire, both in India and in its culinary outposts, has expanded considerably since those early days. Seekh kabob (minced lamb or chicken), bara kabob (strips of lamb loin) and tikka kabob (lamb, fish or chicken chunks) regularly show up on tandoori menus. Fish tandoori, in particular, is an innovation that tradition-bound tandoori cooks turn up their noses at, declaring it a radical - and unacceptable - departure. Not surprisingly, it was created by coastal cooks to satisfy the seaside palates of Bombay and Calcutta.

Clay Pot availability The clay pot for export to Indian restaurants and Indian food loving people is a little different than the ovens available off the shelf from places in north India. This export worthy oven is especially made country specific keeping in mind the climatic conditions & cooking habits. A clay pot being exported to the United States will be different form the one being sold to United Arab Emirates.

These clay pots are available in standard sizes and custom sizes according to the need of the customer. The standard sizes range from an 8 inches mouth to a 22 inches mouth with diameter of 12 inches to 44 inches in different heights. Proprietary packing systems to ensure safe delivery of these bare clay pots ensure break free delivery by sea or air anywhere in the world.

• FEATURES - Barbeque Tandoor
• Ready to use.
• No need for any installation.
• Gas & Charcoal use in the   same   Tandoor.
• Designed for Minimum Heat Loss.
• Economical & Fuel Saver.
• High Quality Stainless Steel Exterior.
• Long lasting specially build reinforced   clay.
• Easy installation of Gas Burners.
• Heavy Duty wheels for easy Placement & Mobility.
• The rapidity of baking and cooking by radiant, conductive and convective heat transfer ensures the sealing in of the flavors and juices of the edible products.
• Oil and fat free cooking of other edibles in a   practical and energy efficient manner.
• Portable
• No Maintenance required.
• The outer body remains   cool thus   the   user   works under no fatigue with a   less heated   surrounding.
• Side door made for air   control and   removal of   ash or fitment of pipes for gas. Baffle Plate   for   Gas   Tandoor   provided   with gas   option to strategically position    the burner lava   as to   get   the   best heat transfer for   a quick and   economical   heating in the   oven.

How to cure a tandoor?

Clay-pot ovens called Tandoor or Tandoori ovens have been used for centuries in eastern Mediterranean and central Asian regions to prepare meat recipes and special kind of leavened flat breads. Any tandoor before being put into production is cured or seasoned to get used to heat and fire. A variety of methods have been developed over the years to season the tandoors to cook the tandoori recipes to perfection. There are some who have extensive methods to cure the tandoor, some use very simple methods, while a few chefs don’t cure their tandoor. On balance, most chefs cure the tandoors.

Is it required to cure a tandoor? And why should a tandoor be seasoned?

 Yes, it is necessary to season a traditional tandoori oven. The purpose of seasoning the tandoor is to have a surface that will neither allow the raw dough to fall off nor will let the finished naan to stick and eventually burn. Also while seasoning the fresh clay, objective is to increase inside temperature gradually to make sure that clay does not crack.

Curing a tandoor oven

As we discussed earlier there are several ways of curing a tandoor and each tandoor chef claims his method is superior. Some use only salted water. And some don’t cure their tandoor. Others use a complex paste made from spinach, oils, salt and various spices. Some undertake a curing process that takes several days. The common ingredients used in the curing pastes prepared by the various tandoor chefs are spinach, sugar and mustard oil.

According to Achal Jain (CEO of Nishi Enterprise) "Everybody has a different style of seasoning, if they season at all. It's their personal choice. They can make a simple paste, commonly with yogurt and eggs, or they go all the way with many different things."

We recommend the following tandoor curing process. You are free to adopt a process that works best for you.

Initially before firing a tandoor, apply 2 coats of masala/paste for curing purpose. This paste is made by using

Ground spinach (Palak),

250 grams of mustard oil (or any oil),

50 grams of jaggery,

5 – 6 eggs,

2 teaspoons of turmeric, and a pinch of salt. Mix this stuff thoroughly and apply it to the inner portion of the tandoor. Let this paste dry for 8 hrs.

Again repeat the process and let it dry (for 8 hrs.) Thereafter fire the tandoor with just 2 kgs. of charcoal (or slow gas) and close the top opening with the lid provided to you. Allow heat to generate inside the oven for at least 2 hrs. Increase the quantity of coal (flow of gas) slowly and gradually. After the tandoor attains its’ required temperature, it is then ready for serving delicious tandoori dishes.

Once the temperature of the tandoor is optimum, a naan stuck to the walls won’t fall off. Each component of the seasoning plays a different role. The spinach is used for binding purposes while the salt adds flavor to the naan. The blend of mustard oil and jaggery helps to provide a shiny finish to the inner walls of the tandoor. The first lot of naans that come out of the tandoor after the curing process are comparatively darker with a heavy mustard oil flavor.

 The process of masala application is required every fortnight (recommended), which results in carbon free naan/tandoori roti’s. Finally safe and gentle handling will always increase the life of a tandoor

Cooking with tandoor

Many people think that the word Tandoori or Tikka is red chicken or lamb that is served in Indian restaurants and take aways. This is not the case, please read on. Tandoori is a method of cooking food in a clay oven at a high temperature of 400c. The meat is left in a marinade for up to 24 hours or more. The food is skewered and then placed vertically in the clay pot where the intense heat seals all the flavor of the meat and quickly cooks it in approximately 8 to 10 minutes.  Tandoori cooked food is unique and the flavour can only be achieved using methods below Marinade, tenderises and infuses spices into the meat Clay, imparts an earthy flavour Charcoal, imparts an aromatic flavour Metal Skewers, conduct the heat, cooking the meat from the inside.  Earth, wood, metal and fire - the four natural elements needed to cook meat, fish, vegetables and bread, now brought to your home in a beautifully crafted charcoal burning oven called the TandoorIQ. Weight approx 30 Kgs Height 520 mm -20 1/2”  Width 370 mm - 14 3/4” Steel chassis Casing made from stainless steel Double insulated
Inside, hand crafted clay pot  4 heavy duty Polypropylene castors Handles, 2 drop down stainless steel Door opening, stainless steel. Cover, stainless steel with brass handle   Stain less steel top to the rim of the pot Charcoal fired Preferred charcoal type use Briquettes Burns approx 1Kilo per Hr Heat to cooking temperature approx 115min Approx cooking temperature 400c The outside will get hot.