My home made Tandoor oven

DIY Tandoor at home
The word Tandoor means a cylindrical clay oven used for baking and cooking.
The origin of Tandor is Persia present day Iran, from there it spread to central Asia and Indian subcontinent. Traditionally the fuel used in Tandoor is charcoal or firewood. Food cooked in a Tandoor is cooked from both the outside, from the heat of the Clay pot, and internally from from the inside via the radiant heat of the metal skewers. Hot convention air surrounds food. Temperature is high about 400F. 

Due to covid-19 lock-down, I missed Tandoori Sizzlers from some of my favorite restaurants. One can buy commercially produced ones but the cost varies from £300 - £500. I therefore decided to make my own Tandoor oven. It has cost me £75. Looked up several web sites before I decided to choose the design. Major component of this cost was PPE. I wanted to ensure that Health & Safety is very important. Other big purchase on recommendation of friends was Angle Grinder

PPE included, industrial dust masks, Plastic over glasses to protect eyes, special gloves that prevent cut through and steel toe capped shoes. I had never used an angle grinder in my life. I ordered one from Srewfix cheaper than Amazon. One has to pay in advance and collect from store wearing a mask. Opened the box - went through the manual twice - Safety instructions alarmed me - biggest danger being " Kick back" like when one fires a gun the kick back can dislocate shoulder. Revolving disk touching the object can cause it, or the object is not secure and moves! Assembly of angle grinder was another challenge. Bit difficult to follow the instructions - So I looked at several Youtube clips and found one for the exact model - watched it twice and was able to assemble it. My first mistake was cutting a fire brick - I cut through it all - There must be easier way - So I watched more Youtube clips as to how to cut a brick! Empowered with knowledge - I cut all bricks within two hours. I decided to make a prototype test Tandoor first. 

So what did it involve? First for outer casing - I used a bin that I had in my green house used for storing pots. This saved costs on buying a new galvanised bin. Put the bin upside down and made markings to fit in Fire bricks to the bottom of the bin - cut bricks to size to fit inside. Fire bricks are special that can withstand heat - -ordinary bricks will

crack and crumple.




Lined the bottom of bin with sand to depth of about inches high. Used one brick to level the sand. Placed and fitted cut out fire bricks like block paving to make a floor of the bin. Next cut several bricks in half fit in vertically along the wall. This serves two purposes - one to hold the Terracotta pot in place and secondly - as resting points for pointed ends of sewers. 

I had to go to Garden centre twice as I had miscalculated the size of Terracotta pot. There was one pot I really liked but would have fitted exactly but it was not Terracotta - It would crack - Terracotta pots are fired and become heat resistant. Made a circular cut to remove the bottom of the terracotta pot.
I cannot draw straight lines - used my belt - belted up terracotta pot - and drew a line. Cutting with hack saw did not work. Secured the pot and cut with angle grinder - not exactly following the line - but could be smoothed later. Upside down terra cotta is placed on vertical bricks. Perfect fit - but I decided to slant it as I did not want hot air/flames hit me when i check skewers with meat. 


Finally, poured in Vermiculite chips outside of Terracotta pot - This forms insulation between hot tandoor and metal bin - works very well - outside of bin was just warm to touch. Only draw back is that Vermiculite only comes in 100L bag - £20 - I used about 25 liters - Rest can be used for next build or can be added to compost as its water retaining. 

I had left a gap between vertical bricks form flu with bin cut outside. I used metal cutting circular disk - I had drawn lines for this door. Surprised at the speed of cutting, sparks ( good job I was wearing gloves and protective glasses) - could not cut exactly along the drawn lines. I have got hinges, nuts and bolts and will make a proper door with cut out piece. During cooking I blocked it with a brick. 

All done - looked up how to fire Tandoor - There is an art to it as to much heat and flames will crack terracotta pot and cause hairline fractures in bricks.
Looked up several Youtube clips on how to season and fire Tandoor. Followed recommended method - Start with setting fire to small sticks and gradually build it up with more wood -and finally place charcoal lump on this fire - Leave it for 30 minutes to warm up the walls of the Tandoor to right temperature - Its like pre-heating an oven. In addition to firing, I threw in some traditional folklore rituals.

First throw in dry red chilies - to ward of evil spirits - and no one will cast an evil eye/curse on my Tandoor. I had to run into the house as smoke from chilies is choking - My neighbour came out of his house and peering over the fence said _ " WTF is going on" - coughing and spluttering and eyes streaming with tears. I invited him to come over for next ritual and join for lunch - just bring some beers. He quite loved the next ritual, make a wish and throw in hand full mix of Fennel seeds, cardamons, cloves, cinnamon and star aniseed - These thrown on fire give an aromatic ambiance around the Tandoor. 

Proof of the pudding - cooked four meat kebabs - meat, onions, peppers on skewers - Four skewers with chicken wings. Best bit was that Naan's made in tandoor were excellent - First wiped the walls of Terra-cotta with wet cloth to remove soot - Was tricky to stick Naans on makeshift bag wearing oven gloves - Soon these bubbled up and started coming off the wall. First one was had with butter and garlic. More than meat we enjoyed Naan's. One further lesson that I learnt was that there was still plenty of heat in the oven and could have cooked for a big party. I did also Tandoori aubergines/ leek - stick these in skewers. 

All downed with Chianti and Beers. 
The proto-type worked perfectly - I need not make another Tandoor - Still plenty of Fire bricks left.

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