Although you’ll often find tandoori clay ovens in restaurants, they are available for use at home. The best recommendation is to use a Tagine. A tagine works like a tandoori clay oven but is smaller and less expensive.
So what is a tandoori clay oven and what can you cook in it? The ovens date back to the Mesopotamia area, around 3500 BC. Tandoori clay ovens were used to cook different types of meats and breads. To this day they are still used in the same way. Clay tandoori ovens can get very hot, making dishes cooked in the oven crispy, but also very moist inside.
Popular dishes include naan, which is a flatbread, tandoori chicken, lamb kebab, and vegetable kebab. Most people living in Iran, India, parts of Turkey, Armenia, and some Middle Eastern countries cook their meals in tandoori clay ovens. All told, these ovens make great dishes that anyone would enjoy.
To make tandoori chicken, by far the most popular dish made in tandoori clay ovens, you will need the following ingredients:
*about 3 pounds of chicken, be sure to cut into chunks
* 1/3 cup yogurt
* 1 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1 tablespoon of garlic
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon of cumin
* 1 tablespoon peeled ginger root
* 1 tablespoon ground cumin
* 1/2 tablespoon of cloves
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* a couple of pinches of salt
* 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
* Fresh coriander branches to decorate
* Cucumber slices, red onion (Spanish), tomato and lemon, to decorate
Take all of your ingredients in a large bowl and mix together, this mixture is your marinade. Place chicken in marinade, cover, then place in refrigerator overnight. Don’t let the chicken sit in the bowl for more than 48 hours. When you’re ready to cook the chicken the next day, let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes.
Cook the chicken on the grill or in a tagine. Remember that we are using the tagine instead of the tandoori clay oven. If you don’t want to use a tagine, roast the chicken in a regular 430-degree oven for at least 30 minutes.
Cooking in tagine
When cooking in a tagine, you need to cook the food slowly over low heat. When making tandoori chicken tagine, simply place the chicken in the tagine over low heat. Check it periodically to make sure it is cooking well and not burning. If your tagine doesn’t have a place for steam to escape, then leave the lid cracked a bit so the steam can escape.
