The tandoor is Punjab’s iconic clay oven — a cylindrical earthen chamber of fierce heat that bakes tandoori roti and naan and roasts tandoori chicken.
Meaning
A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven, heated by a wood or charcoal fire burning at its base. Breads are slapped onto its searing inner walls to bake in minutes; meats cook on long skewers lowered into the intense, smoky heat. The word now also describes anything cooked in it — tandoori roti, tandoori chicken.
What it is
The traditional tandoor is built of clay, sometimes sunk into the ground, with an opening at the top. Once the fire has heated the walls to several hundred degrees, the baker wets one side of a rolled roti or naan and presses it against the inner wall, where it sticks, blisters and bakes in a couple of minutes, to be hooked off with long iron skewers. The heat is fierce and radiant, giving tandoor breads their characteristic charred bubbles and smoky flavour.
The same oven roasts marinated meats: tandoori chicken — chicken marinated in yogurt and spices, skewered and roasted in the clay heat — was popularised in the twentieth century by Punjabi cooks and became one of India’s most famous dishes worldwide.
In villages, tandoors were often communal. Women would bring their kneaded dough to the shared neighbourhood tandoor (sanjha tandoor), baking the family’s breads together — the oven doubling as a daily gathering place.
Cultural context
The tandoor shaped Punjabi food culture more than any other piece of equipment. Dhaba tandoors along the highways bake thousands of rotis a day, and the sight of a baker’s arm disappearing into the glowing mouth of the oven is one of Punjab’s enduring images.
Today the tandoor has travelled the world — restaurant tandoors from Birmingham to Brampton bake naan for the diaspora — but its roots remain in the clay ovens of Punjab’s villages, where bread was baked together and the oven belonged to everyone.
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਅਰਥ
ਤੰਦੂਰ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਦਾ ਬਣਿਆ ਗੋਲ ਭੱਠਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ ਜਿਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਲੱਕੜ ਜਾਂ ਕੋਲੇ ਦੀ ਅੱਗ ਬਲਦੀ ਹੈ। ਇਸਦੀ ਤੇਜ਼ ਗਰਮੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਰੋਟੀਆਂ ਅੰਦਰਲੀ ਕੰਧ ਨਾਲ ਲਾ ਕੇ ਸੇਕੀਆਂ ਜਾਂਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ।
ਪਿੰਡਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਸਾਂਝੇ ਤੰਦੂਰ ਹੁੰਦੇ ਸਨ ਜਿੱਥੇ ਔਰਤਾਂ ਆਟਾ ਗੁੰਨ੍ਹ ਕੇ ਰੋਟੀਆਂ ਲਗਾਉਣ ਆਉਂਦੀਆਂ ਸਨ। ਢਾਬਿਆਂ ਤੇ ਤੰਦੂਰੀ ਰੋਟੀ ਅਤੇ ਨਾਨ ਅੱਜ ਵੀ ਤੰਦੂਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਬਣਦੇ ਹਨ।
ਤੰਦੂਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੱਕੇ ਖਾਣੇ ਦਾ ਸਵਾਦ ਵੱਖਰਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਤੰਦੂਰੀ ਚਿਕਨ ਵੀ ਇਸੇ ਭੱਠੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੱਕਦਾ ਹੈ।
How it's used
- 1ਤੰਦੂਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਰੋਟੀ ਸੇਕੀ ਜਾਂਦੀ ਹੈ।Bread is baked in the tandoor.
- 2ਪਿੰਡ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਾਂਝਾ ਤੰਦੂਰ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਸੀ।The village used to have a shared tandoor.
- 3ਤੰਦੂਰੀ ਚਿਕਨ ਤੰਦੂਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੱਕਦਾ ਹੈ।Tandoori chicken cooks in the tandoor.