Main Tips

The “First Burn” Procedure

Before using your oven for the first time, it is a good practice to prime your oven with a “first burn”. Please follow our ‘First burn and cooking’ instructions in the website.

The “Curing” Procedure (Optional)

The “curing” procedure is the same as the first burn procedure except the purpose of this procedure is to add a seasoning to the clay wall that will add flavour to your Naan bread. By following this procedure, the raw dough does not fall off the clay wall and the finished naan comes off the clay easily.

There are many ways to season a clay oven. Some use saltwater, some use a complex paste made with spinach, cooking oil, salt and various spices. Others don’t cure their tandoors at all. If you wish to cure your tandoor there is a couple of methods below:

Salt solution

Simply mix 1 tbsp of salt with 1/2 litre of warm water and mix till dissolved. Then lightly apply the solution all over the inner clay wall with a damp cloth. Be careful not to get the clay too wet as this could cause damage to the clay walls. Once you have done this allow it to dry and repeat the first burn process. This can be repeated from time to time to remove soot.

Paste (for advanced users)

Mix 250g Ground Spinach, 100g Jaggery or brown sugar, 1 eggs, 1 tsp Turmeric powder, pinch of salt and add enough cooking oil of your choice (preferably Mustard Oil) to make a paste.

Apply 2 coats of the paste to the clay pot lining and leave to dry for at least 8hrs. Once dry follow the first burn process. You can repeat this process from time to time to remove soot.

How To Achieve Good Cooking Results

The hotter the Tandoor gets, the quicker it will cook. At its optimum temperature, you can cook skewered chicken pieces in approximately 8-10 minutes. The more you use your tandoor, the better you get in Tandoori skills.

After you have loaded the meat/food onto the skewer, slide a layer of onion or a slice/half of a potato over the end of the last piece of meat/food, to prevent the food sliding off and from charring. You may want to check half way through to test how the food is doing. To maintain continuity of cooking always remove the skewers in the same sequence you inserted them, hence “First in First out”.