Traditional North Indian cuisine relies heavily on the use of tandoor ovens, and numerous breads and dishes have been developed specifically for these clay ovens. These include a wide range of well-known Punjabi and North Indian dishes such as tandoori lamb chops, chicken tikka, chicken, seekh kabab, tandoori oven, reshmi kabab and a number of other dishes. However, few of us are lucky enough to own a tandoor. In this article, some substitute methods for the tandoori method are presented.
Prepare tandoori without tandoor
Due to the construction of the clay oven, tandoori dishes have a distinct smoky flavor. At the bottom of the oven, burning embers create heat in a tandoor (which has a similar shape to a cooking pot). As the food cooks in it, its juices drip onto the hot coals, creating the tandoor’s distinctive smoke.
Of course, it’s difficult to find an exact substitute for a tandoor, but there are a few options. Barbecues can be quite tasty, especially when prepared on a grill that allows the juices from the food to drip onto the fire or coals. The resulting taste is very close to the effect of the tandoor, but not quite the same.
You can also use a regular oven to prepare “tandoori” dishes. Although both the oven and the tandoor have an enclosed space where the heat is trapped, only the tandoor provides the distinctive smoky flavor of true tandoori dishes. If a tandoor is not available, this method is the best substitute for preparing tandoori bread (naan, roti, kulcha, etc.) because the bread is heated all around.
Although the idea of grilling is basically the opposite of tandoori cooking, it is still possible to use a grill to prepare foods such as lamb chops or chicken tikka. Since a grill does not have an enclosed environment, the food is heated by outside influences. Nevertheless, it is possible to prepare good food. The grill is useful when you want to cook quickly (i.e. when the barbecue is out of the question).
Conclusion
In general, a charcoal-fired grill is the best substitute for a tandoor if you want to cook North Indian style. Tandoor grills are now much more commonly available in the West. So if you cook tandoor-style often, it may still be worth the purchase.