Tandoori Pots/Ovens

[a311]

Anyone own something similar to this?: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Terracotta-Tandoori-Pot-19...

I've always liked cooking a curry, and trying to hone my technique. With chicken I've tried boiling it, marinating it in a yoghurt spice mix and then cooking on skewers under the grill.

[Mobile Chicane]

Never felt the need in all honesty.

I find that for searing heat, the small Weber Smokey Joe BBQ (with lots of charcoal in) works pretty well.

Electric grill (sigh ) indoors if the weather's foul. However the secret to this is to heat it up as hot as it will go (ignore the clouds of smoke) for a good 10 - 15 minutes before cooking.

[Pferdestarke]

OP - what you're linking there on Amazon isn't a tandoori oven as we know them. It's designed for slow cooking over a few coals for a long time.

It's quite misleading actually.

You can build a tandoori oven from terracotta pots. There are a few guides online if you google.

As MC says though - plenty of searing heat with a more conventional set up.

[a311]

Thanks for the responses-I'm gona have a crack at making my own! Will report back on the results.

Cheers

[benters]

I have one, got it form Habitat all those years ago, and it works quite well. I don't have anything else to compare it against that said. So cant say whether the other proposed methods are better or similar.

[Ionkontrol]

Quite fancy the idea of one of these for the garden, but haven't seen many reviews.

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Tandoor-Ov...

[a311]

Ionkontrol said:

Quite fancy the idea of one of these for the garden, but haven't seen many reviews.

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Tandoor-Ov...

There are similar if not the same on Amazon. I'm going to go and buy a few clay plant pots and try that, probably can be done for ~£20 I reckon or less if you already have some of the stuff.

[Type R Tom]

Jamie Oliver’s show on Southend pier a few months back had a DIY segment that got more and more out of hand each week, on one of the early ones (I think the guy’s name was Jimmy) they built a Tandoor from clay pots. You might be able to find the episode on 4OD.

[a311]

Here's the one that J Oliver had.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/jimmytandoori/to.pdf

I don't plan to go as big as this. There are several ways to do it, it seems but the basic principle is to keep in as much heat in as possible. I might nip over to B&Q during my lunch to see what I can knock together. I can see how this could get out of hand though I have a bad track record of over engineering things.....

[Type R Tom]

a311 said:

Here's the one that J Oliver had.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/jimmytandoori/to.pdf

I don't plan to go as big as this. There are several ways to do it, it seems but the basic principle is to keep in as much heat in as possible. I might nip over to B&Q during my lunch to see what I can knock together. I can see how this could get out of hand though I have a bad track record of over engineering things.....

Yep that's it; I'd love to know who thought that background was a good idea rendering half the instructions unreadable!

[a311]

Type R Tom said:

Yep that's it; I'd love to know who thought that background was a good idea rendering half the instructions unreadable!

It's quite a size that thing too I'd imagine you’d be able to cook quite a bit at once.

I nipped home during Lunch and I had a couple of old large Terracotta Plant pots. I also have smaller ones but going to go new for ones that will come in contact with raw food. I’m wondering if it’s best to prep i.e. season the terracotta before cooking so will have a look online when I get home.

Picked up some Vermiculite from a builders merchant. I think gravel may also work as a cheaper alternative but will also add to the weight, and vermiculite should offer better insulation. I looked for something I could use as an extra long skewer, I have metal kebab type ones but I expect they’ll be a bit too short so will either have to cook less or see if the meat closest to the charcoal cooks too quick/burns.
Shall post come pics when I get home. Regretting not putting some meat in to marinate over night now though!

[a311]

So after picking up the bits I thought I needed, I headed home excited to knock together my very own Tandoori Oven.

I opted for the 3 terracotta plant pot method smaller plant pot inside of a larger one, surrounded by vermiculite, top chopped off a third(equal in size to the other smaller pot) and placed on top. I used an angle grinder to lop the top off. Was a bit over eager so didn't do a very good job taking the top off, for £1.50 I'll but another pot and take my time.









I probably should have done some more research into the cooking method-how much charcoal, how long etc. an infrared thermometer would also be very hand. I made some marinade and gave some chicken breast and leg of lamb time to marinade. Whenever I make a curry I normally allow 24hrs of marinating so will try again tomorrow.

I had what I thought was plenty of room at the bottom of the skewers to prevent burning but the bottom pieces of meat on each skewer were charred. The rest was fairly awesome! Very moist and tasty- especially the lamb. Longer skewers required but for now perhaps a sacrificial chunk of something on the bottom-lime, lemon etc.



So there you have it a bit of effort in search of a tasty curry. I just had the meat with some rice tomorrow it will be a proper curry-probably chilli garlic made from a base recipe I've used for a while. As a previous poster said you can get good results by marinating and cooking under a hot grill, tomorrows proper run will tell me if it's worth the extra effort over grilling.....

Messy garden due to some DIY landscaping.

[Type R Tom]

Excellent work! Do you think the gravel will retain sufficient heat compared to the bricks on the Jamie Oliver version? What put me off doing it was messing about with the bricks but that looks much simplify!

So when you going to stick a naan bread to the inside?

[a311]

Type R Tom said:

Excellent work! Do you think the gravel will retain sufficient heat compared to the bricks on the Jamie Oliver version? What put me off doing it was messing about with the bricks but that looks much simplify!

So when you going to stick a naan bread to the inside?

I'm not sure on the gravel, it should do the job, people seem to also have used sand. Issues with both the former and latter could be moisture retention so you'd have to ensure they were dry-perhaps stick in the oven in an old baking tray? I'm not sure what the fire bricks in that Jamie Oliver version bring to the party other than raise the level as it's a big bin. I think I need to revisit my design in terms of airflow, My main pot was flat on a couple of breeze blocks so may look at have the hole in the bottom free and/or drilling some extra ones. Fashioning a grill of some sort for the coals to sit on is another to try-people seem to use sweet tin lids.

Naan bread, will definitely be going in once I hone the technique-don't want a sticky ball of dough ending up on the coals!

[BarnFind]

Sand would be better and if you can get your hands on some white lime,not expensive and a mix of 50/50 sand/lime has great insulating properties,i have it in my chimney,way cheaper than the modern equivalent

[a311]

Cooked a naan bread yesterday, was please with the results. I think I cooked the meat too long yesterday, I opted to stick a mushroom on the end of the skewers so the first peice of meat wasn't getting burnt which worked well. I also put a grill in the bottom for th charcoal to sit on got hotter quicker-cracked the upper pot!

Is it worth the effort? Hmmm probably not over sticking it on the BBQ or under a hot grill but it was fun trying!