A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in Middle Eastern and South Asian countries for cooking meats and breads at high temperatures. Tandoori chicken is a popular dish made by coating chicken in yogurt and spices and cooking it in the tandoor. Breads like naan and lavash are also cooked in the tandoor. The oven achieves high temperatures through an open fire at the bottom and clay sides that heat up.
Generally associated with Indian cuisine, a tandoor is a type of clay oven used in many Middle Eastern and South Asian countries for baking or other types of cooking. It is a cylindrical oven that has been in use for centuries; usually a tandoor is fueled by wood or charcoal and is often left burning for several hours, or even days, to maintain the very high temperatures the tandoor can reach. The tandoor is usually used to cook meats such as chicken, but it is also used to cook certain breads such as lavash and naan. The word tandoori means “pertaining to the tandoor oven,” so many dishes are labeled tandoori.
Perhaps the most popular dish made in the tandoor, tandoori chicken is made by coating pieces of chicken in yogurt and spices, then placing the pieces on skewers. The skewers are in turn placed inside the tandoor oven to be cooked at very high temperatures. While this dish can be prepared in a regular oven, tandoori chicken is best cooked in a tandoor to keep the temperature high. Chicken pieces often have a red appearance from the cayenne pepper and other spices in the coating. The dish is served with onions and lemon. Other meats such as lamb, beef and fish can also be cooked in a tandoori oven.
Breads like naan and lavash are made by kneading dough, letting it rise, then shaping it into flat balls or sections that are slapped against the sides of the oven. Such loaves can be accented with spices such as onion or garlic, as well as raisins. Breads cook quickly in this type of oven due to the high temperatures, so large quantities of bread can be made quickly and easily.
This cylindrical oven achieves such high temperatures by using several heat sources: an open fire at the bottom of the cylinder exposes the food to flames, and as the heat from the flames builds, it radiates around the open oven to further cook the food. The clay sides of the oven also heat up, also providing heat sources that cook foods thoroughly and relatively quickly. The top of the tandoori oven is open and the sides of the opening are often curved. The oven itself can be quite small or very large, but in restaurants, the oven is usually located between the chest and shoulders.
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