Cooking Tandoori Without An Oven or Tandoor? You Need This Hack

If you think your best bet of making tandoori delicacies at home is an electric tandoor or an oven, you couldn’t be more wrong! Turns out there are some simple DIY ways to make tandoori recipes without equipment and some of them are much more efficient than the rest.

Also Read: Why Is Tandoori Chicken Better Than Fried Chicken?

Let’s get some basics right about cooking tandoori chicken or tandoori veggies at home. Utilizing a conventional oven or charcoal barbecue grill is one of the most common methods for making tandoori recipes at home. To achieve that authentic flavour and char, you preheat your oven to the highest temperature (usually around 475°F or 245°C). 

Place the marinated chicken, or paneer or veggies on a baking rack set over a baking sheet to allow for air circulation. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and has a slight char, usually 25-30 minutes. You can use the broil function for the last few minutes to enhance the smoky flavour.

An electric tandoor simply lets you achieve the quintessential tandoori flavour without using fire which makes it suitable for indoor use. However, what if you don’t have any equipment? There are several manual ways of achieving that delicious smoky tandoori flavour. 

If you don't have access to an outdoor grill or oven, you can still achieve fantastic results with a stovetop by pan-searing the chicken. Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat. Sear the marinated chicken pieces for a few minutes on each side until they develop a beautiful golden-brown crust. Finish cooking in the oven or cover the pan with a lid for even cooking. 

You can also use metal skewers. Skewer the marinated chicken on these metal rods. Turn on a gas burner to medium-high heat and hold the skewers over the flame, rotating to evenly cook the chicken; it’s an economical replacement for an electric tandoor.

The Best DIY Hack? Just Some Charcoal!

Award-winning chef Varun Inamdar has a genius way of achieving the wonderful shared aroma and smokey aftertaste without using any grill or skewers. He simply uses a few pieces of charcoal!

He demonstrated the method in one of his videos and his followers loved the hacks! Simply cook or fry each sides of the chicken, paneer or tofu properly until you get nice golden brown colour, It should take about 10-12 minutes.

Get a few pieces of charcoal. Heat the charcoal until its red in colour and quite hot. Place the fried chicken in a big glass bowl and place a medium-sized metal glas in the middle. Place the coal in the glass with some tongs and add some oil over it. Cover the lid and cover the lid for around 15 minutes. This will infuse the chicken with a natural charred essence and give it a smokey finish. This method is not just quicker but also the most effortless since it needs minimal prep! So, when are you trying out this DIY hack?