What is a Tandoor and where does Tandoori originate from?

Have you wondered, "Where does the word tandoori come from"? or have you tried making Tandoori chicken or Naan at ome and wondered, "Why does it not taste like it does in the restaurant?. The reason is because the restaurants would prepare the tandoori items and various breads in a tandoor. The tandoor is currently a very important fixture in many Indian restaurants around the world.  The word tandoori is the adjective meaning "pertaining to the tandoor" and is used to describe a dish cooked in a tandoor. A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in cooking and baking. The tandoor is used for cooking in Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Transcaucasus, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia as well as India and Bangladesh. The heat for a tandoor was traditionally generated by a charcoal fire or wood fire, burning within the tandoor itself, thus exposing the food to both live-fire, radiant heat cooking, and hot-air, convection cooking.  Temperatures in a tandoor can approach 480°C (900°F), and it is common for tandoor ovens to remain lit for long periods of time to maintain the high cooking temperature. Some modern day tandoors use electricity or gas instead of charcoal.

The tandoor is used for cooking certain types of Afghan, Pakistani and Indian, foods such as tandoori chicken,chicken tikka and bread varieties like tandoori roti and naan.  The tandoor is basically used to cook meat while Hindus and Sikhs of India are mostly vegeatarian so it was popularised during Muslim reign in South Asia. It is thought to have travelled to Central Asia and the Middle East along with the Roma people, who originated amongst the Thar Desert tribes.

The tandoor is also known by other names - 

• In India, the tandoor is also known by the name of bhatti. The Bhatti tribe of the Thar Desert of northwestern India and eastern Pakistan developed the Bhatti in their desert abode, and thus it gained the name.
  
• In Armenia, It is known as a tonir which is a widely used method of cooking barbecue and lavash bread. 
• In Georgia it is called a tone and is used for bread and kebab.
  

In the images below, you can see the chef cooking some kababs in the tandoor and also you can see him bake the Naan bread in the oven. The dough is kneaded and then the dough is stuck to the walls of the Tandoor where it gets baked to for the Naan. 

*  Images Courtesy of India Jewel Restaurant in Prague - http://www.indianjewel.cz/

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Interesting Indian Restaurant Names

Most of the Indian restaurants have very standard names that either contain the word India, or the name of a city, region,  cuisine, person, famous landmarks. How many times have you gone to a India Palace, Andhra Palace, Taj Palace etc? On this site we have over 15,000 Indian Restaurants from all over the world and we decided to pick out the really unique names. Here they are. An Indian Affair Anokha Indian As Hot And Spicey Bayleaf Indian Bombay Dream By The Way Calcutta Notebook Eye Of Tiger Grace Of India Have More Indian Health Is Wealth Heaven And Earth Spicy Affair  Please check back as we will be updating this list. If you would like more information contact us .

Where to buy Indian fish in Dallas?

If you love Indian fish then you have probably experienced the frustration of not finding popular Indian fishes like Pomfret or King fish in your local grocery stores. The local American grocery stores in the US typically sell Salmon, Catfish or Tilapia which are not found in India. Fish is a large part of our family diet and we are always on the lookout for good fish.  Dallas has a diverse international population with a lot of expats with Asian and Indian backgrounds and we were fortunate enough to find a grocery store chain called H-Mart. H-Mart is a Korean store and has a wonderful seafood section where you can find good selection of Indian fish such as the Black Pomfret, White Pomfret, Kingfish, Mackerel. The entire store is extremely clean and well lit.  The seafood section has fresh fish, shrimp, crabs and lobster as well. Besides buying seafood, its a great store to do your regular grocery.

The Dallas area has one store in Carrollton.

Address : 2625 Old Denton Rd. #200  Carrollton, TX 75007

Telephone : 972-323-9700

Hours : 8 AM - 10 PM

If you are unable to travel to Carrollton, then you may be able to find the fish in your local Indian grocery stores but you will only find frozen fish. We have typically been disappointed with the fish in the Indian grocery stores as we are not sure when it was packed. 

The Indian Food & Grocery section of the website has a list of such stores. The site currently has over 2000 Indian food & grocery stores listed in the United States. If you think one of the stores has incorrect data or if you have a new store you would like listed, please do contact us. We would greatly appreciate it, if you would provide a review of these stores.