Your own personal home tandoor

Tim

Mon, 4 Jul 2016 00:16:49 GMT

I have a Homdoor tandoor oven which are made in the US (I live in Dallas TX, via Sydney NSW). The unit is a few years old now, but the great design of them is they sell a ring burner that can be fitted to the oven with no modification. 20 seconds is all it takes to convert from charcoal to gas.

Just picked up a copy of Flatbreads & Flavors (1995) by Jeffery Alford and Naomi Duguid, which I will try a few recipes from.

fx

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 18:43:49 GMT

I think you can make your own tandoor for little expense, some people explain it on Youtube

fx

Wed, 16 Mar 2016 18:49:40 GMT

Thanks Natalie, now I have altogether bigger and even less common cooking equipment!

Natalie

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:48:48 GMT

Glad to have found this article because your article on home made naans, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading, was making me wonder about how you were able to get a tandoor installed in your home!!! Thanks for answering the question!

My understanding is that most Indian/middle eastern homes don"t have it in the kitchen but rather somewhere outside on the grounds. I admire your dedication to enjoying authentic food experiences!

Shibu Jacob

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:39:43 GMT

Good one!Fx? OK,it would be a bit far fetched to know of any suppliers in Sydney? I did a search but most new ones cost like $640-800 and that"s a lot to spend on a tandoor! Wonder if I can get any mini ones? Lemme know if you have any leads. Informative blog!
cheers

Amit

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:31:22 GMT

I got an indoor tandoor for myself - they are the first people to make an indoor certified tandoor for the US market. Love it - can run on mains gas and has the option of connecting a BBQ Cylinder too.

Placed it on my Patio - has auto ignition and flame control. Cooks more than 5 naan breads at one go. I had it from www.hometandoor.com

Maybe this helps other people who want one - i was looking for something like this for ages.

Montu

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:51:43 GMT

Does any one know what type of clay is used in a tandoor ? I am in Sydney and to know if the clay can be purchased here. What do you think about using a Terracotta pot ?

Niraj Gupta

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 01:03:42 GMT

I have constructed a tandoor using basic things like a large size flower planter, play sand, and metal trash can. This has come out very good. I have had two parties at my house and this is the main focus of all the guests when I start to feed the "Beast". The Nan and chicken tikka came out professional quality. Spent way much less $$ than commercially available tandoors.
I am glad I built it and looking forward to enjoying the authentic tandoori Nans and other tandoori dishes.

hadji kareem

Sat, 28 May 2011 12:48:40 GMT

we a country of tandoor(IRAQ) and the real name of tandooor is tanoor from the light insteade of gate and many thank for your great information .

melissa

Fri, 1 Apr 2011 05:25:52 GMT

Hi Michael,

This is a common question people ask. You first need to make sure the tandoor has had time to fully heat up - say 30-40 minutes. This will help the heat distribute more evenly. You can also try and cook the food with the tandoor lid partially on to help maintain heat at the top of the tandoor. Importantly, you can use a heat shield at the bottom of the seekh to stop the last piece of food burning. We recommend using a piece of potato or onion. You can also use a piece of foil. Further detail on using tandoors can be found on the "Tandoor Living" website (www.tandoorliving.com.au). Hope this helps!

Michael

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 01:54:38 GMT

How do you position the seekh in the tandoor? The greatest heat is at the bottom of the tandoor which cooks faster than the top of the seekh. I keep burning the bottom piece.

I have been researching this for a while. Your Website is very helpful. Keep up the good work.

Michael
Santa Barbara California

Dean

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:58:19 GMT

Great site Fx! I live in Austrailia and recently purchased a home tandoor oven form a company called Tandoor Living based out of Melbourne(www.tandoorliving.com.au). The guys their were real helpful and I got it delivered in 3 days. I have used the oven heaps and have made the best tandoori chicken ever. I have also used it to cook roast pork and it produced the best crackiling I have had in a long time. It seems like tandoor ovens can be used to cook just about anything. I look forward to reading more posts on tandoori cooking etc.

fx

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:32:34 GMT

Good luck then.

Andrew

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:57:04 GMT

I love tandoori food - I will definitely get myself a tandoor oven having read your article

nick moger

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:43:18 GMT

Hi Guys - Great site. As an ex-pat living on the gulf coast of Mississippi, we are starved for our native Indian food ;). We are looking to build a tandoor in our back yard and are having difficulties finding reasonbly priced tandoor (just the clay pot). Any suggestions?

Nash

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 01:29:01 GMT

Hi Guys,

I am from Goa, India residing in Toronto and will be going to Goa/Mumbai in December. Was planning in getting a Tangoor Clay Liner to build my own backyard-home tandoor to be able to once again enjoy the KADDAK Tandoori Roties straight form the oven.

But this post about the cast Alliminium Tanddor seems very interesting. Somebody (FX/ZAK) is trying to market this? Andi I think he is based in UK? First of all I am interesting in buying one for myself, and if it is good (no clay particles in the roties and tasts as good as a clay Tandoor) the probably I could even help in marketing these in Ontario/Toront area.

FX/ZAK, Pls Email asap. nash.carol@rogers.com and nash.lobo@rbcdexia.com

Regards

Nash

kay

Mon, 6 Sep 2010 16:04:23 GMT

FX, great site. wondering if you could help me. I"m currently looking for a clay oven for indoor use. I"ve called various retaielrs however can"t seem to find any oevns suitable for indoor use.
Thanks a lot!

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:29:05 GMT

I am not Mr Singh.

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:25:01 GMT

Phil I am not a tandoor retailer, sorry I can"t help!

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:14:29 GMT

Yes of course I got his book before the tandoor, a really impressive treatise it is!

shantihhh/mary-anne

Wed, 4 Aug 2010 00:31:15 GMT

Will this new Tandoor be available in the US (California)? BTW a wonderful Tandoor book is available by the late Ranjit Rai, "Tandoor". His earlier book, Curry, Curry, Curry is an amazing source of the old style recipes.

Phil

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 15:29:01 GMT

Hi.

I would very much be interested in buying a Nipoori Tandoor. I have been looking for one for ages! Do let me know when it becomes available again!

Phil.

BDS

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:22:04 GMT

Mr Singh - have you decided to go ahead and market your gas-powered tandoor oven because I would be interested in buying one. Please advise the best way to get in touch and get hold of one - thank you

Mr Singh

Wed, 19 May 2010 13:11:05 GMT

Hi FX,

I sent you an email back in 2008 regarding my domestic gas tandoor and my plans to supply them in the UK and Europe. I did send you a pic..assume you got it but not to worry its a long time ago. Anyway it turned out the gas tandoor was going to be difficult to introduce into Europe for a number of technical and bureaucratic reasons.

Of course people can buy a restaurant tandoor like your"s. It is the type I grew up(I hail from a Panjabi catering family)but what I have been looking for is something that work"s better in a domestic environment. Even the small clay/metal tandoors from india that can be bought in the UK, weigh around 80Kg still take over an hour to come to temperature, only holding that temperature for 30-45 minutes and have the inherent fragility issues that you get with a clay liner.

Now for the reason I have contacted you again. There was a brilliant domestic tandoor that was launched in the UK back in 1998. It was made of cast aluminium, weighed 15kg, could be broken down in one movement and would fit in the boot of a car, it would get to perfect cooking temperature in 30 mins and once up to temperature it would hold the right cooking temperature for up to one hour on a single load of charcoal!

Having grown up around tandoors and tandoori chefs I assure you that the clay add"s nothing to the flavour of food cooked in the tandoor. The food produced by this cast aluminium tandoor is as good as any I have tasted from any tandoor be that here in the UK or in Panjab.

The tandoor got rave reviews(even sold in Harrods!) but a lack of promotion and issues amongst the patent holders meant it went out of production and became unavailable around 2004/05... I spent a good few years trying to track down whoever owned the patent and to try and find out why it wasn"t being produced anymore.

Now to the point..I have managed to agree a deal with the patent holder"s and a mould is being made in China as we speak. Unfortunately it took us a long time to find the right factory because we had very specific wants and standards. After being out of the market for so long this would be essentially a new product launch and we had to make sure the quality would be as we wanted it.

That delay has meant that we will be very late in the summer (end Aug/Sept) for delivery which isn"t perfect but just the way it is. I doubt we will be able to convince everyone but Tandoori cooking is a lot less temperature sensitive than normal BBQ and I do it all year round.

What I wanted to do FX, if you would be kind enough to accommodate me is send you a unit, when I have received them, to gain your honest objective opinion.

Of course it would be a gift and all I ask is that you review it as you find it and if possible post your findings on your site. I am so confident that you will like the unit that I would like you to post your review warts and all. Would this be acceptable to you?

You being a tandoori fan and owning a restaurant quality tandoor yourself seem to me to be a great choice of reviewer.

For those that are interested the unit was known as the Nipoori tandoor and retailed at the time for �150..I am doing my best to keep the price as close to this as possible.

Kind Regards

Zak

fx

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:09:40 GMT

Yes about an hour to get the temperature exactly right is correct. You absolutely need to have a very strong ventilation and an arrival of fresh air near the tandoor, otherwise this beast will suck any oxygen out of your house.

Shoukat Ali

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:01:38 GMT

Hello, Fantastic article - Quick question if I may. Sounds like a tandoori oven can be put as an appliance into the kitchen without too much bother. Is a canopy/extraction unit essential, or should I be looing to put the tandoor into the garage?
What is the startup times for the oven. Having looked around, these can take up to an hour to fire and warm up, is this correct?

Regards,
Ali.

fx

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:26:02 GMT

You need to look for electrical tandoors for the maritime industry, I think they are the only one to make it, just search for it online.

Tai

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:57:27 GMT

Hi I am in Australia, you mention that yyou found a company over here that could help my desire to have a Tandoor! Do you remember who they were? It would save costly shipping from the UK :-)
Love your work!
Tai

syed

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:40:06 GMT

I am trying to built my own ceramic tandoor you save char/feul and keep it hot for longer time if any body can give me helping hand or idea ? thanks by the way i lives in pittsburgh pa U S A.God bless us all.

Mike

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 03:43:34 GMT

Re: Comment by Colleen 3/1/10
Hi, interesting article, thankyou. I built a traditional masonry oven last year and am now planning on a Tandoor. Would be interested in contacting Colleen"s husband re the design, specifically about purchasing the oven body. My email is mikeb12@our.net.au
Thanks, Mike

Michael

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:30:39 GMT

#47Comment by Colleenon: 03/01/2010
Hello,
My husband makes and sells traditional Clay Tandoor ovens.
He also make a thing called the Yard Oven. It is a modular unit that also comes with a Pizza top ( so it also make woodfired pizzas. We love our Tandoor. We live in Austalia and make all the Tandoor ovens for Indian restaurants in Sydney.
FX"s answer→ Thanks Colleen.
Can you email me how to contact you and your husband I wish to purchase one. I am in Adelaide watersportsdude@hotmail.com

fx

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:21:22 GMT

Thanks Colleen.

Colleen

Sun, 3 Jan 2010 08:28:46 GMT

Hello,
My husband makes and sells traditional Clay Tandoor ovens.
He also make a thing called the Yard Oven. It is a modular unit that also comes with a Pizza top ( so it also make woodfired pizzas. We love our Tandoor. We live in Austalia and make all the Tandoor ovens for Indian restaurants in Sydney.

fx

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:24:39 GMT

Shane, I think you can buy commercial tandoors as well, perhaps you might call a local supplier up and ask him how it"s made. Good luck with your project!

Shane

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:07:48 GMT

Hello: I have been looking for instructions on how to build a Tandoor. It is not easy as most instructions use a pre-made liner. I have made clay ovens in the traditional Quebecoise style with great results. It seems that the shape of clay ovens are quite specific and it has to do with radiating heat most efficiently. As for the problem of clay particles, a potter friend suggested getting your oven quite hot (over a period of time) and then either throwing or placeing a dish of sea salt in the oven and plugging it up. This causes the oven to become slightly glazed on the inside which seems to help.

If anyone has ever built their own tandoor and knows the method including specific shapes and dimentions I would really like to know.

I am a professional Chef and would like to say that this site is really well done!!

fx

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:02:05 GMT

Hasnain, first I recommend you either reduce the wetting of the naans when you place them in the tandoor, or make a drier dough. Second, if this doesn"t work, you might want to look into seasoning your tandoor"s inner surface with spinach leaves and milk or another such mixture. Please consider that even in restaurants I get little clay particles on the back of naans from time to time - this can happen!

Hasnain

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:31:25 GMT

Hi,

I have a clay oven, but the problem is that whenever I make tandoori naans. The naans do get cooked but when I remove the naan from the tandoor it has a fine layer of clay at the bottom of the naan where it was in contact with the tandoor. Was wondering if there is a way I can prep. the tandoor so that it doesnt happen ?? Any feedback will be great. Thanks in advance.

fx

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:13:15 GMT

LM I have three regular hoods on top but I could use a big commercial hood when the tandoor is in operation.

fx

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:08:52 GMT

Wes, you need to press the bread against the tandoor"s surface using a glove or a cushion. All tandoors have a lid, only in some kitchens if they are really busy they take the lid off during service.

fx

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:06:59 GMT

Pamela, I think google guesses what we all might want to shop for in 2009 - a diet!

Pamela

Fri, 9 Jan 2009 21:27:59 GMT

Hi- I found only 1 contradiction on your site. The Google add which suggests "How to lose 42 lbs. in ...." Very cute considering there are so many great, rich & hearty recipes. I am 50% swiss and live in Austin, Texas. Yes, I LOVE hot chipotles & Tex- mex too... It"s also nice to add some hot cayenne pepper on melted raqulet.

Wes

Fri, 9 Jan 2009 10:41:14 GMT

How does one get the bread attached to the inside of the tandoor without burning your hands? I know the charcoal or gas would not have a lid, but can an electric one have a lid to keep more heat inside?

lm

Sun, 4 Jan 2009 23:55:24 GMT

What kind of hood/exhaust do you use? Is it similar to one used over gas range?

fx

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:11:08 GMT

Liza, how sweet of your sister to send you the link to my site. Glad you liked it and hope to see you back here!

Liza

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:40:22 GMT

Dear Fran�ois-Xavier,

I love cooking and my sister send me the link to your web-site. I just wanted to say what a pleasure it is to look at what you do: it looks beautiful and just about all the recepies are on my to do list now!
Thank you!

fx

Sun, 3 Aug 2008 14:30:33 GMT

Dolce, I never built a tandoor although this is a fun project, and couldn�t answer you. Sorry!

Dolce

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 08:33:05 GMT

Inspiring!
I am beginning my Tandoor by building a clay liner with non-toxic grog clay. My question is this: should I fire the liner? I"ve seen both baked and unbaked clay liners for sale from India, and I wonder which is better.

fx

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:22:46 GMT

Look for the Clay Oven Company in London, they have a website.

Jacob

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:46:04 GMT

where can I buy one?. Who is the maufacturer?. Please give me the contact information.
thanks,
Jacob

fx

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:42:58 GMT

Jan, you are right but my tandoor"s is excessively modest on what he shows on his temperature dial. When I turn it on, after 5 minutes it reaches 300 Celsius, but I never found another temperature gauge that would exceed this temperature. Thanks!