Cooking Tandoori Without a Tandoor

 Traditional North Indian cuisine heavily relies on the usage of tandoor ovens, and numerous breads and dishes were created specifically for these clay ovens. This comprises a wide range of well-known Punjabi and North Indian meals, such as tandoori lamb chops, chicken tikka, chicken, seekh kabab, tandoori prawns, reshmi kabab, and a number of other dishes. However, only a select few of us nowadays are fortunate enough to own a tandoor. This article will examine a few substitutes for the tandoori method of cooking.

Due to the architecture of the clay oven, tandoori food has a distinctly smokey flavour. At the bottom of the oven, lit embers produce the heat in a tandoor (which has a similar shape to a pot-belly stove). As the food inside it cooks, its juices drip down onto these hot coals, creating the tandoor's distinctively flavorful smoke.

Naturally, it is challenging to find an exact substitute for a tandoor, but there are a few possibilities. Barbecues may be rather tasty, especially when they are prepared on a grill that allows food juices to drip onto the fire or coals. The resultant flavour is a good approximation of the tandoor's impact, while it isn't quite the same.

To make "tandoori" meals, you could use a standard oven. While both the oven and the tandoor have an enclosed compartment where heat is trapped, only the latter results in the distinctive smokey flavour of authentic tandoori food. When a tandoor is not available, this method is the finest substitute for making tandoori breads (naan, roti, kulcha, etc.) since the bread is heated all around.

Even though the idea of grill cooking is basically the opposite of tandoori cooking, it is nevertheless possible to utilise a grill to prepare foods like lamb chops or chicken tikka. Since a grill lacks an enclosed environment, the food is heated by external factors. Nevertheless, it is still possible to prepare good food. The grill is useful for cooking quickly (ie when the barbecue is not an option).

In general, a coal-fueled barbeque is the best substitute for a tandoor when you want to cook in the North Indian way. Tandoors are now much more widely available in the West, so if tandoori-style food frequently appears on your menu, it might still be worthwhile to make the purchase.