Tandoor
What is a Tandoor and How Does Tandoor Cooking Work?
A tandoor (تنور) is a cylindrical clay oven - traditionally sunk into the ground or mounted at waist height - that cooks food using intense radiant heat from a wood or charcoal fire burning at the bottom. Temperatures inside a working tandoor typically reach 450-500°C (840-930°F), far hotter than any conventional kitchen oven, and it is this extreme heat that gives tandoor-cooked food its unique character: a blistered, slightly charred exterior and a moist, flavourful interior that no other cooking method replicates. The tandoor is one of the oldest cooking technologies still in daily use - the design has remained essentially unchanged for at least 5,000 years, from the Indus Valley civilisation through the Mughal Empire to every Afghan, Pakistani, Indian, and Central Asian kitchen that relies on it today.
In Afghanistan, the tandoor is the centrepiece of bread culture. The naan that accompanies every meal is baked by slapping the dough directly onto the inside wall of the oven, where it sticks, blisters, and slides off in 60-90 seconds, fresh and smoking. Afghan neighbourhoods have traditionally had a communal tandoor - the local naan baker (naan-wai) who fires up the oven before dawn and bakes for the whole neighbourhood. The smell of fresh tandoor naan in the morning is one of the most immediately recognisable sensory memories for Afghan people everywhere.
How Tandoor Cooking Works
Tandoor cooking has three main applications, each taking advantage of the oven's different heat zones. Bread baking uses the extreme radiant heat of the clay walls: raw dough slapped onto the inner wall sticks briefly, blisters and puffs in seconds, and is peeled off with a long hook before it burns. Meat cooking uses a different approach: marinated chicken, lamb, or paneer is threaded onto long vertical skewers and suspended inside the oven without touching the walls, cooking from the surrounding radiant heat and smoke while fat drips down onto the fire below, creating aromatic smoke that flavours the meat from the outside. The third application is finishing: flatbreads and kabob portions may be held near the mouth of the oven where the temperature is lower, keeping them warm without overcooking.
Tandoor at Naan Kabob
At Naan Kabob, our tandoor is central to what makes our bread and grilled chicken different. Our Tandoori Chicken ($18.99) is marinated in our house blend and cooked in the tandoor - the char, the moisture, and the smoke character are products of the clay oven, not a pan or a conventional grill. Our fresh Afghan naan is also tandoor-baked, giving it the blistered surface, slight chew, and smoky note that you cannot get from bread baked any other way.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes tandoor-cooked food different?
The extreme heat - 450-500°C - creates a surface char in seconds that seals in moisture and creates flavour compounds (char, smoke, caramelisation) that slower cooking cannot produce. Bread bakes in under 90 seconds; chicken in under 15 minutes. The speed and the heat are what make it special.
Is Naan Kabob's naan tandoor-baked?
Yes. Our Afghan naan is baked in our tandoor - that is the source of its blistered surface, slight char, and the soft-chewy texture that makes it ideal for scooping and wrapping. Afghan naan baked in a conventional oven is a different product.
What dishes at Naan Kabob use the tandoor?
Our Tandoori Chicken ($18.99), our Afghan Naan, and our Kulcha bread are all tandoor-cooked. The tandoor gives our chicken its distinctive char and our bread its signature texture - both products of the same ancient technology.
See also: Afghan Naan ,Tandoori Chicken ,Afghan Cuisine ,Skewer Cooking.
Tandoor-baked naan and Tandoori Chicken ($18.99) - both made in our clay oven at every Naan Kabob location.
