Tandoor

A tandoor in Africa

Tandoor Bakery in Turkmenistan

Baker in Bahrain

Baker in Afghanistan

Tandoor in Uzbekistan

Tandoor braziers

A tandoor embedded in the ground in Kashgar / West China

A tandoor in Chewsuretia / Georgia

Traditional tandoor in Iraq

A tandoor in an Indian kitchen

Iraqis baking bread in a self-made tandoor from a barrel

Modern tandoor

Preheating in Armenia

A tandoor ( Hindi तंदूर tandūr ; Urdu تندور; Armenian Թոնիր tonir ; Kurdish tenûr , Turkish tandır ; Georgian თონე tone ) is a special oven heated with charcoal , wood or, in modern types, with gas . Unlike ovens in other, v. a. In more western regions - western Anatolia, countries of the Levant , around the Mediterranean Sea and in Europe - a tandoor is not charged from the front, but from above with fuel and food to be baked or cooked. Some tandoor ovens are also built at an angle.

distribution

The tandoor is part of Indian cuisine and the cuisines of Central Asia , the Caucasus , Iran and Iraq . It is traditional from eastern Anatolia and eastern Syria to the central Asian parts of western China and to southern Asia and parts of Africa. B. also part of the Georgian cuisine , Turkish cuisine (in the east), Arab cuisine (Iraq, Eastern Syria, Gulf region), Persian cuisine and Uzbek cuisine .

construction

Construction of a brick tandoor

A tandoor consists of a large, cylindrical, refractory clay jug that narrows towards the top, which is either sunk into the ground to protect against burns or insulated on a foundation with a layer of mortar and other materials such as clay, bricks or wood. The combustion chamber is also seldom built in brick; more recently, electrical tandures have also been made from metal. In India and neighboring countries in South Asia, it is mostly part of kitchen furnishings today. The charcoal or other fuel is ignited at the bottom and the stove is preheated for at least two hours until it is red-hot in the lower area.

use

loaf

The tandoor is used to bake flatbreads such as naan , lavash and chapati , which are pressed against the upper hot side walls and are often pulled out again with a poker after baking. Pastries, e.g. B. Samosa , can be baked in tandoor.

Pressing bread
Bread on the oven wall
Pull out with a poker hook

flesh

Tandures are also used to cook meat dishes, the most famous of which is tanduri chicken ( Indian English tandoori chicken ). Typical for these dishes is marinating with a mixture of yoghurt , the spice mixture Tanduri Masala , which originally comes from the cuisine of Rajasthan and gives the meat a strong, orange-red color, or other ingredients. The pieces of meat are placed on skewers for cooking, which are placed in the oven to have the necessary distance from the embers.