Tandoor

TANDOOR

The Tandoor is the oldest cooking Equipment in the whole world.  It has been also known to the Indian region for many years. It is as old as its culture. A cylindrical clay oven that heats up to a very high temperature, it cooks unlike any other oven. The coal embers provide for a flavor that is at once very tasty and scrumptious. The meats and vegetables cooked in the Tandoor are very different from those grilled in other ovens. Tandoori foods are very simple to prepare and very light. Attention is mostly paid to the marinating and cuts of meats.

Even though the Tandoor has been used in India for centuries, it was only after the partition of India and its getting freedom that one has seen a reintroduction of Tandoori foods. Today foods cooked in Tandoor are the main dishes on most Indian restaurants.

History- At the time of excavation evidence of Tandoor being used in the Harappa culture were also found. The tandoor is used for cooking certain types of Afghan, Pakistani and Indian, foods such as tandoori chicken, chicken tikka and bread varieties like tandoori roti and naan.  The tandoor is basically used to cook meat while Hindus and Sikhs of India are mostly vegetarian so it was popularised during Muslim reign in South Asia. It is thought to have travelled to Central Asia and the Middle East along with the Roma people, who originated amongst the Thar Desert tribes.

The tandoor is also known by other names – 

Sanskrit: कन्दु ,Kandu                                                   Georgian:თონე,Tone
Punjabi: ਤੰਦੂਰ , भट्ठी, Bhatti                                       Persian: تنور‎, Tenor
Azerbaijani: təndir,                                                      Bengali: তন্দূর, Tandura

Turkish: tandır,                                                            Urdu : تندور‎, तन्दूर

Hindi: तन्दूर, भट्ठी , Bhatti                                           Armenian: Թոնիր, Tonir

Arabic: فرن,                                                                 Chinese: 馕坑,Nang pit

The seasoning recipe of Tandoor  is too simple. Blend two handfuls of spinach leaves and one cup of coarse kosher salt. "Each ingredient has a different role. The spinach acts as a binder, and the salt gives flavor to the bread.

A cup of buttermilk is added next. "It's for lactic acid. " The addition of one cup of pungent mustard oil and one cup of jiggery (Sheera – an unrefined sweetener made from sugar cane -- is meant to glaze the interior of the oven. The resulting stiff liquid, which he pours from blender to bowl, looks like an Indian version of pesto.

The famous Indian flat breads are prepared in this clay oven. The Naans, stuffed and layered, and plain parathas, kulchas and rotis are made in minutes in the Tandoor.Tandoori chicken, that famous rose colored grilled chicken cooks into a flavorful, crunchy and moist textured meat in just some quick minutes. The secret to this dish as also to many other Tandoori recipes is mostly in the marinade. Tandoori prawns, succulent lamb chops, seekh kebabs, malai kebabs and fish tikkas are some of the other famous dishes.

Finally safe and gentle handling will always increase the life of a tandoor.