Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook
Home made tandoor oven
Hi
Seriously considering making my own tandoor oven, something like this:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=94527
Anyone else built a home made tandoor?
Cheers
Steve
now this is a beauty!
http://www.villagok.dk/tandoor/
Cheers
Steve
I am staying here in india with my brother, whose wife has just had one made for herself, to be used during her daughter's wedding feasts. This is a common practice in India. She has made it in a drum. I will take pictures later, of the finished thing, but this is how it is;
It is a thick cylinder. The outer 4 inch space is filled with a mix of Sand and salt at 10:1 ratio. Then there is a circle/layer of bricks inside, making a tube of about 2-2 1/2 feet diameter. Then there is a thick coating of clay and straw mixed. This is about 3 inch thick.
The whole thing can be enclosed in a square brick platform, but here people usually have them free, so they can move them around, sort of portable, standing on steel or iron legs/frame.
Once clay is dry, the clay is cooked by burning wood in it 2-4 times. If any cracks appear, they are filled with clay and straw mix.
The hole at the base for cleaning ashes and lighting fire etc. is about 6-8 inch square.
Mamta
Mamta - some pics would be great! Only if you have time though.
Thankyou
Steve
I have time and I will take pictures tomorrow, when the wedding cooks/chef make tandoori roties. But I have no way of downloading them or posting them here! It will have to wait until I get back in a couple of weeks, sorry!
Great pictures Steve - makes my simple little "chicken brick" look very humble!
Mamta - 800 guests at a wedding? Surely the family must need to hire a football stadium to accommodate everyone?
800 is quite normal for Indian weddings. There will be a team of 100 cooks+kitchen 'boys' working under a master chef. There will be stalls of cuisines from different states of India, quite a common practice here (also in UK now).
The Sweet makers have been busy on the roof terracae today making Gulab jamuns, sweet laddoos of 4 types, burfies, mathari and Shakkarpara snacks, to name a few things. A team of 12 has been working all day. It is now 11 pm and they are still cookingg, with brief breaks for meals/tea etc. Sweets are packed in boxes and one box each is given to all family members of bride and groom's family. The sweet store room is beginning to get full. My niece in-law keeps bringing little bits for us to taste ;-)! I will be fatter by the end of it :-(!
Indian weddings are usually planned weeks in advance and require a lot of work. The main feast is on the wedding evening, 26th and the work hasn't even begun!
Might not get a chance to check mail for next few days, let's see.
mamta
Sounds amazing - would love to see it happening, from the cooks, to the food, the tables etc etc.
Cheers
Steve
I am taking a few pictures and will probably post a few on flikr for you to see. Today, the cooks have been filling the sweet boxes, ready to be gifted. Will go upstiras on the roof, where they are working, to take a few more pictures. I believe that the total number, including servants, waiters etc, who all eat at such occasions, will be nearer 1500 than 800!
Mamta
Mamta - hope you have a great time. This time we can ask you to keep your camera clicking!
I found this on the internet, very close to the real thing in looks. has anyone used it?
http://bbcb.co.uk/modules/kshop/product_details.php?id=8
Uses charcoal, heats to 400c and is hand crafted clay inside... sounds very much like a traditional one !
Steve
Hi Mamta
Did you manage to get some pics of the tandoors at the wedding?
Cheers
Steve
I did Steve, but can't post them anywhere because admin is closed at the moment because of hackers. If you write to me via the contact link, I will send them to you.
Mamta
Small tandoor oven (the same as Mamta's post link above)is sold by SPices of India. At ?325 I think it is just too expensive.