Tandoor facts for kids
A tandoor is a special type of oven, usually shaped like a big pot. It's often made from clay and comes from the Indian subcontinent. For thousands of years, people have used tandoors to bake flatbreads like roti and naan. They also use them to roast meat. You'll find tandoors used a lot in cooking across Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Horn of Africa.
The history of the tandoor goes back more than 5,000 years. It started in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, which was one of the world's oldest societies. Traditional tandoors cook food using a fire inside, usually made from charcoal or wood. This fire cooks food with direct heat and smoke. Some tandoors sit above the ground, while others are partly buried. They can be over a meter tall or deep! Inside, temperatures can reach about 480 degrees Celsius (900 degrees Fahrenheit). Because they stay hot for a long time, you often see traditional tandoors in restaurant kitchens. Newer tandoors are sometimes made of metal. You can even find modern ones that use gas or electricity, which are more common for cooking at home.
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What's in a Name?
The English word "tandoor" comes from the Urdu word tandūr. This word has traveled through many languages, like Persian and Arabic. It even connects to an ancient word from the Akkadian language called tinūru. This old word meant "mud fire." In ancient Sanskrit, a tandoor was called kandu. Many countries still use words similar to "tandoor" today, like tandyr in Kyrgyz or tandır in Turkish.
How a Tandoor Works
When a tandoor is used for the very first time, its temperature needs to be increased slowly. This step is important to make sure the oven lasts a long time. You start a small fire and slowly add more fuel. This gradually makes the tandoor hotter inside.
Small cracks might appear during this first heating. This is normal! These tiny cracks won't stop the tandoor from working well. When the oven cools down, you'll barely notice them. They actually help the clay oven "breathe" as it heats up and cools down. The slower you heat a tandoor the first time, the fewer cracks will form.
Different Kinds of Tandoors
Tandoors come in many shapes and sizes, depending on where they are used.
Afghan Tandoor
The Afghan tandoor is built above the ground. It is usually made from bricks.
Punjabi Tandoor
The Punjabi tandoor from South Asia is traditionally made of clay. It's shaped like a bell and can be placed in the ground or sit on top of it. It uses wood or charcoal for fuel and gets very hot, around 480 degrees Celsius (900 degrees Fahrenheit). Tandoor cooking is a big part of Punjabi cuisine.
In India and Pakistan, tandoori cooking became very popular after 1947. Before that, it was mostly used in the Punjab region. In rural Punjab, it was common for villages to have shared tandoors that everyone could use. Some villages still have these communal ovens today.
Armenian Tonir
In ancient times, Armenians saw the tonir as a symbol of the sun. They believed the sun went "into the ground" at sunset, and their underground tonirs looked similar. The underground tonir, made of clay, was one of the first cooking tools in Armenian cuisine. It was used for baking and heating food. Some say Armenians were the first to create underground tandoors.
Azerbaijani Tandir
In ancient times, people used the tandir to bake bread and other dishes. Tandir bread (təndir çörəyi) is a very popular type of bread in Azerbaijan. It bakes quickly from the heat of the tandir's walls.
In 2015, one of the world's biggest tandoors was built in Astara, Azerbaijan. It is 6.5 meters (about 21 feet) tall and 12 meters (about 39 feet) wide!
Turkmen Tamdyr
Baking traditional white bread, called çörek in Turkmen, is an old and respected cooking tradition in Turkmenistan. This bread is made in the traditional clay oven, known as a tamdyr.
Most Turkmen families in the countryside have tamdyrs at home. Sometimes, women gather to bake çörek for several families at once. One famous type of bread baked in the Turkmen tamdyr is etli çörek, which is bread with meat. It's often made during traditional holidays. Turkmens don't just bake bread in the tamdyr; they also make dishes like somsa, which is like a savory pie with a filling, usually beef.
You can add different spices to Turkmen bread, such as cumin, cinnamon, olives, mustard, or sunflower seeds. To get the tamdyr ready for baking, a fire is lit directly inside it, often using dried cotton stalks. The baker watches the inner walls of the tamdyr. When they turn white, the ashes are moved to the center, and the bottom opening is closed. The bread must be carefully and quickly placed onto the hot wall so it sticks without losing its shape.
Delicious Tandoor Dishes
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A tandoor is used to bake many kinds of flatbreads. Some popular ones include tandoori roti, tandoori naan, and tandoori kulcha.
- Peshawari Khar is a dish made with roasted cashews and cottage cheese paste. It's marinated in a thick, spiced cream and then grilled in a tandoor.
- Balochs and Aloos are potatoes filled with cottage cheese, vegetables, and cashew nuts. These are also roasted in a tandoor.
- Tandoori chicken is a famous roasted chicken dish from the Punjab region of South Asia. The chicken is soaked in yogurt mixed with garam masala, garlic, ginger, cumin, cayenne pepper, and other spices. Hot versions get their red color from cayenne or chili powder. Milder versions might use food coloring. It's traditionally cooked at high temperatures in a tandoor.
- Chicken tikka comes from Mughlai cuisine and also started in the Punjab region. It's made by grilling small pieces of boneless chicken. The chicken is first marinated in spices and yogurt. It's usually cooked on skewers in a tandoor. Chicken tikka is often served with a green coriander chutney, or used to make chicken tikka masala.
- Tangdi kabab is a popular snack from the Indian subcontinent. It's made by marinating chicken drumsticks and cooking them in a tandoor. Freshly ground spices are added to yogurt to make the marinade. The chicken usually marinates for at least 12 hours. When ready, the drumsticks are often decorated with mint leaves and served with sliced onions and a squeeze of lemon.
- Samosa is a stuffed snack. It's a fried or baked pastry, often triangular, with a savory filling. Fillings can include spiced potatoes, onions, peas, or ground meat like lamb or chicken. Samosas vary in size and shape. In some parts of Central Asia (like Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan), samosas are typically baked in a tandoor. In most other places, they are usually fried.
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See also
In Spanish: Horno tandur para niños
