‘The tandoor’s popularity began when the community oven concept was introduced, encouraged to abolish class barriers, with the ovens becoming common meeting points for people from all walks of life,’ explains chef Atul Kochhar, who has been at the forefront of modern Indian cooking for decades, and runs restaurants including Masalchi, Vaasu and Sindhu. ‘The communal tandoors were cost effective as a way of feeding a large community as, once lit, the tandoor could be used for hours of cooking. Punjabi refugees then took the tandoor to Delhi and now some of India’s most famous dishes are cooked in the tandoor. It’s designed in such a way that it provides different techniques of cooking, ideal for different types of food, making it a very versatile cooking method.’

Part-oven, part-barbecue, there's a lot going on inside the clay pot – direct heat rises from the charcoal (or wood) fire, grilling whatever's above it, while its fearsomely hot walls create puffy, charred bread, the radiant heat in the unique tandoor belly creates a baking effect and marinades and juices dip onto hot coals, creating a smoker. While food is usually cooked horizontally when grilling, the cylindrical shape of tandoors means skewers are put in vertically, allowing heat (which is usually controlled via a lid and gas valve) to circulate. Removing the need for flipping means everything cooks evenly and, thanks to its fiery heat, quickly. ‘Considering the tandoor oven can reach up to around 500°C, it’s a very efficient way of cooking,’ Atul agrees. ‘In a busy restaurant, the time-saving aspect is extremely helpful, but the flavours imparted are also phenomenal, quickly cooking meats without drying them out. What’s more, once you’ve eaten naan bread or chicken cooked in a tandoor, you’ll never settle for anything less.’

In the UK, it's chicken that we most often associate with the tandoor, thanks to dishes like tandoori chicken and chicken tikka. Though they share similarities, the origins of tandoori chicken stretch much further back than chicken tikka, which was created in the 1970s in a Scottish curry house. While both involve marinating chicken in yoghurt (a staple ingredient in tandoori marinades) and spices, chicken tikka usually uses chunks of chicken breast, while chicken tandoori isn't boneless, and is often made with both half and full chicken. Both are threaded onto skewers and have, for many countries, come to represent tandoori cooking (chicken tikka has been particularly popularised in the UK thanks to its role in chicken tikka masala, which is often voted the UK’s favourite dish). And though meat is important, vegetables, paneer and fish are also tandoori staples. As our understanding of Indian cooking blossoms, with notions of heavy curries replaced by regional, lighter flavours, we are being introduced to more tandoori flavours, thanks in no small part to fine dining restaurants including Tamarind, Benares and Gymkhana. 

When chef Peter Joseph opened his restaurant Kahani in 2018, his goal was to showcase healthy, light Indian cooking. He has two tandoor ovens there, and dishes including tandoori broccoli and prawns are among his most popular. Though Peter grew up in southern India, he explored tandoori through his culinary training, and now blends influences from across the country in his menu. His prawn malabar, for example, might be typically southern in origin and served with sauce, but he uses the ingredients as a marinade before cooking the prawns in the tandoor for a northern twist. ‘The heat cooks meat or fish super fast, so all the juices remain inside and it’s always succulent,’ he says. ‘When they drip from it onto the charcoal, it creates the smoke and an amazing flavour.’

It's traditionally been unusual to find tandoors outside professional kitchens in the UK, but smaller versions geared at home cooking are now readily available, often made of metal and containing gas or electric heating elements. But Peter and Atul agree that, even without one, we can replicate elements of tandoori at home. ‘If people don’t have a tandoor it can be done on the barbecue,’ Peter nods. ‘It won’t be exactly the same, but 90% of the flavour we can achieve in a barbecue. Even by marinating chicken or prawns and grilling them in the oven, it doesn’t create the same flavour but the succulent meat is the same.’ We can emulate the smokiness, he says, by buying a smoker, using a charcoal barbecue or cold smoking the meat before grilling it (this method needs some precision, though, to keep it safe – so do your research first). Atul agrees that charcoal grills and pizza ovens, ideally used with terracotta pots or pizza stones, are good replicas for tandoor ovens.

‘My favourite thing to cook is a selection of fish and meat, a mixed grill of sorts,’ he says. ‘On the menu at my restaurant Kanishka, we have a tandoori mixed grill which comprises a lamb seekh kebab, chicken tikka, salmon and tiger prawns.’  Tandoori chicken or prawns are certainly good starting points, but there is endless potential once you’re confident with the style and flavours; why not try Peter’s tandoori roti or grilled stone bass with yellow tomato chutney? Chef Dayashankar Sharma also uses the tandoor for stuffed tandoori squid, while Alyn Williams’ recipe pairs tandoori scallops with chickpeas and yoghurt and Alfred Prasad uses the tandoor for the popular paneer tikka. And when it comes to flavours, Peter says less is more – stick to three or four ingredients in a marinade, and nothing that overpowers what you’re grilling, he says: ‘Keep it simple – let the flavour of the smoke shine through.'

At its heart, tandoori is straightforward, though its speed and heat can take some getting used to. If having a clay oven in your garden isn't realistic, there are all manner of ways to recreate its flavours at home, whether that's on the barbecue or simply in the grill of your oven. Experimenting with marinades and ingredients can unlock a completely new way of cooking with your favourite ingredients, tapping into a style which has changed little in thousands of years.