9

FORGE

as always, follow the safety advice that comes with
the rotary tool.
With this pot cut and inverted on top of the smaller
pot, that’s the heart of your tandoor made. The only
issue with using this as a standalone cooker is that
it will lose a lot of heat out of the side, which makes
it harder to hold the high cooking temperatures
associated with tandoori cooking. We need
some insulation.
The easiest way of insulating your tandoor is to
place it in a larger container and fill the gap between
with something that traps air and is safe at high
temperatures. There are a few options here. We’ve
seen people use metal bins, but since the tandoor is
going to be in our garden for years to come, we’d like
something a little more aesthetically pleasing. We’ve
gone for a larger terracotta pot. As this one won’t
come into contact with food, you don’t have to be
quite as careful with the pot. Though, do bear in mind
that parts of it (particularly the bottom) will get hot.

KEEPING WARM
In an ideal world, this larger pot should be slightly
shorter than your stack of two pots that
make the inside of the tandoor. However,
creating perfect height pots for
tandoors doesn’t seem to factor
into the design of terracotta pot
manufacturers, so it’s usually
a question of doing the best
you can with the available
materials. If some of the
upside‑down pot pokes
out above the insulation,
then it’s not the end of
the world, but does mean
that you might need a
bit more fuel to get fully
up to temperature. It
will also result in a less
even cooking temperature
in your tandoor. This is
a particular problem for
things that stick to the side

• namely naan bread. We
  found that our tandoor cooked
  fine without the insulation going
  all the way up.
  For the material in the middle,
  you’ll need something that’s easy to
  pour, and inert. We’ve used perlite – it’s
  available from some garden centres and online.
  Though if buying, be aware that it’s quite light, so

AIRFLOW

Oxygen is critical to any fire, and especially

important to a cooking fire. Too much, and the air

dissipates some of the heat, which can limit the

temperature the tandoor can reach. Too little and

there’s not enough to sustain the fire. Our tandoor

has a single air intake – the hole in the bottom of the

small flower pot which can’t be adjusted, but the lid

can be removed and this will ease the air escape and

increase airflow over the coals. Closing or removing

the lid gives you a crude control over the airflow.

If you find that you’re not getting up to

temperature and your coals are struggling to burn,

you might find that you need more air inflow. You can

do this by gently drilling additional air holes in the

bottom of the tandoor. There are no hard-and-fast

rules for this, so you’ll need to experiment to find the

right amount.

Below

The small pot inside

the large pot. Notice

how the air holes at

the bottom line up