Asian cuisine at any time: how to build a home tandoor?

Tandoor - thick-walled clay stove egg-shaped, with a lid and a blower hole at the bottom.

Cooking does not occur over a fire, but due to the heat accumulated by the walls of the oven.

Tandoor in the house for the kitchen

A traditional tandoor cannot be placed indoors - it has no chimney, so all the smoke will be in the house. In the kitchen, you can use stoves:

• Powered by electricity. An easy-to-use stove. An electric coil is placed inside the vessel, heating the walls. It does not produce smoke, heats perfectly, the stove goes into operation in a matter of minutes.

Photo 1. An electric tandoor with a heating coil on the bottom does not create smoke in the room and heats perfectly.

• On coals with a chimney. The coals produce little smoke, and the chimney can be vented outside or into the ventilation. In apartment buildings, this version of the tandoor will not work - the smoke will definitely bother the neighbors. In a private house, if there is ventilation, you can build a capital stationary massive tandoor, which will become part of the kitchen and will be used constantly.
• On natural gas. In such tandoors, a special torch burner is used, which evenly distributes the temperature along the walls. Such a stove also needs a chimney, since the resulting carbon monoxide is dangerous to life.

We design the structure

Let's consider two options tandoor suitable for installation in the kitchen of the house:

1. Small mobile electric vehicle. Convenient, cooks small portions well. Ideal for occasional use, heats up quickly. A significant disadvantage is the small size, which means it will be more difficult to feed a large group of guests.
2. Massive stationary gas or wood fired. Suitable for lovers of Asian cuisine for frequent use. Has minimum 60 cm in diameter, perfectly insulated. You shouldn't build this device into a regular kitchen, as even insulated walls heat up and there is a risk of fire. The tandoor should be separate, with a gas pipe and a kitchen hood nearby. The downside is that it takes up a lot of space, and if you don't cook on it often, it will only get in the way.

Photo 2. A large tandoor in the house, runs on wood and has good thermal insulation.

What do you need to make a tandoor?

Materials for manufacturing:

• Capacity for internal walls. You can use fireproof ceramic pots. Material: fireclay, terracotta. Using a firebox "sleeve" will allow you to mold flat cakes onto the walls. Plain clay is not suitable - it will crumble from the temperature. Fireclay bricks are only suitable for making shashlik, which reduces the functionality of the stove.
• Fireclay backfill or lining. Acts as a heat accumulator. Calorific clay can be used as a binder.
• Insulation. To prevent the oven walls from heating up and to allow cooking to continue for longer, it is provided 5–10 cm of basalt wool.
• Frame. Gives a finished appearance and strength to the entire structure.
• Heater. A power supply and a nichrome spiral in one case, and a powerful gas burner-ejector in the other.

Necessary equipment and tools:

• 

  hammer;
• punch;
• metal saw;
• vice;
• angle grinder with discs for stone and metal;
• drill with drills with carbide tips;
• roulette;
• ruler;
• square;
• glasses and gloves.

How to build it yourself at home?

To build a stove, you need to follow the order of work:

• 

  We connect the mouths of ceramic vessels together using metallized tape.
• We make the body out of tin. It should be wider than the vessel. by 10 cm.
• We place basalt wool insulation inside the body.
• Carefully wind the nichrome heater onto the connected ceramic vessels., wrapped in a paper tube.
• We insert the sleeve into the body. We fill the free space with a mixture of crushed fireclay bricks and measuring clay. We tamp it down and let it dry for several days.
• Let's start the oven. This is a long stage - the oven needs to be started with short heatings with increasing temperature.
• From clay we do pallet to collect dripping fat and juices.

You may also be interested in:

Everything you need in one design! Furnace complex with tandoor, barbecue, smokehouse

A convenient oven and an indescribable national flavor: how to make an Uzbek tandoor from clay?

Choosing Corner Brick Barbecues: Photos of the Best Projects

We make a stove for regular use

A massive tandoor requires the presence of a solid foundation. If the premises are located in a private house, it is better to pour a monolithic foundation deeper than the level of soil freezing.

Work execution procedure:

1. On the foundation is being laid a layer of waterproofing, on top of which is thermal insulation made of 3 cm of asbestos.
2. The podium-base is laid out of ordinary clay bricksThe brick acts as a thermal buffer.
3. A platform of fireclay slabs is laid out on the brick — the bottom of the stove.
4. A metal case is installed - guide.
5. Wedge-shaped fireclay bricks are placed inside the case. halves of bricks on the poke. This is necessary for bandaging the seams.
6. The masonry is carried out with a minimum layer of mortar clay. When laying, be sure to fill all seams with mortar - the wall should be smooth and monolithic.
7. The remaining rows are laid out. The last row of the cylindrical part also consists of whole and half bricks.
8. With a large diameter drill in the walls tandoors are being made openings for air supply and flue.
9. The chimney can be connected to either a stationary sleeve or a flexible corrugated steel one. The tandoor cannot be called an economical stove - the temperature of the outgoing gases is quite high, and the chimney outlet gets very hot.
10. At the bottom, the firebox cover and grate are laid out from fireclay bricks. The ceiling has a gap from the walls of the stove, otherwise thermal expansion can rupture the stove.
11. The use of a grate is optional, as in traditional tandoors air is supplied through a special hole. The grate increases the intensity of fuel combustion and accelerates heating.
12. The top row is laid out from trimmed fireclay slabs. There should be a hole in the center of the ceiling for loading products and firewood. The hole in the tandoor has side slots for attaching skewers.
13. As a lid can be used ceramic pot, metal part from a barbecue.

Difficulties in manufacturing

It is not difficult to make a good and safe tandoor yourself at home, but you must take into account the following technological nuances, so that there are no consequences:

• Different thermal expansion of fireclay backfill and ceramic vessel. Cracks may occur during heating and cooling.
• Incorrectly selected radii of wedge-shaped firebricks.

• Low quality bonding solution. It is better to use measuring clay or ready-made heat-resistant masonry mixtures.
• Poor quality of ceramic vessels - they will crumble when heated.
• Poor quality or weak burner, which does not heat the walls of the oven.
• Lid leaks, narrow mouth will reduce the convenience of using the stove.

Useful video

The video presents one of the technologies for creating a small clay tandoor.

How to use the structure indoors?

When cooking in a tandoor there are three stages:

1. Heating of walls. Wood-fired tandoors are considered ready when the soot on the walls burns out — the walls no longer absorb heat. It is better if a temperature sensor is built into the fireclay jacket.
2. Bookmarking a portion. A metal stand is installed, on which skewers with products strung on them are hung. The lid is closed so that the heat does not escape.
3. Extraction of finished products. Use potholders, tongs or hooks to avoid getting burned.

Even with high-quality thermal insulation, the walls can heat up to dangerous temperatures. This can lead to a fire.