Tandoori Delights

The chutney, curry masala and tandoori chicken (or chicken tikka), together form the world view of Indian food. While this may or may not be an authentic impression, the fact remains that the tandoor is an authentic Indian way of cooking, and can be used for a wide range of foods, from breads to meats. In fact, its biggest contribution to the world of gourmet cuisine is the delectable chicken and mince kebabs.

It was born more than 5000 years ago, another era - but with similarly harried housewives racing against time and techniques to provide tasty and healthy food their family. Some things never change.

The geography of tandoor using cultures can be ascertained from archeological evidence found across a number of Asian countries that today cover Middle East, Mongolia, the Soviet countries, and of course India and Pakistan. It is noteworthy that only the Western and north Western parts of Asia came in contact with this technique, the Eastern and South Eastern countries did not.

The earliest excavations where tandoor has been found are in the Indus Valley civilization, locations of Harappa and Mohenjodaro. The origin of the name tandoor also has roots in antiquity. It probably came from the Sanskrit word 'kandu', meaning a large, bowl shaped vessel...related to the word kund meaning a vessel (usually referred to the square vessel like bowl in which the fire was lighted for the holy yagnas of the Vedic era. This became tandoor when the "T" sound gradually replaced the "k' sound.

Another theory is that the name is derived from Pushtu, a language spoken in Afghanistan and some areas of Pakistan and India, in which tata means hot and andar means inside. To tandar, and tandoor followed.

Whatever may have been the right beginnings, the fact remains that it found mentioned in culinary procedures of ancient cultures, including the Egyptian. This could have been the earliest way of cooking meat, following logically when man found that a piece of meat that fell into a fire not only became easier to eat but also acquired a pleasant flavor. The first man to have thought of tandoor cooking may have been a lover of charcoal flavored meat, spit roasted. Evidence of this has been found in Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir states of extreme North India, where spit clay ovens have been excavated with bones near them, leading experts to believe those people actually roasted meat before eating it. The interesting thing is the dating of this excavation - 6700 BC, a full 9300 years ago. More such excavations have been found all over North India, dating up to 2000 BC.

Stone implements like these two would have made up a primitive kitchen or bakery. In India, the main excavation sites are in Kalibangan (a part of the Harappan civilization) where implements dated 2600 BC have been found. These cities are amazingly well-developed and they seem to have been masters of a wide array of foodstuff tastes, including fowl, meat and game birds. No doubt then, that they developed the most succulent ways of cooking them. And with trade flourishing between this area and the Mesopotamian civilization, the use of tandoor traveled far and wide.

The Vedas, in parts that talked about cuisine, mention meats being tenderized by yogurt.

The first proper mention of the tandoor as a cooking implement is found in a medical treatise of the ancient Vedic era, by an ancient physician who is regarded as the father of surgery in India, Sushrut. The treatise is called Sushrut Samhita Sursthanam. He has listed out the varieties of meat preparations, and also specified that meat cooked on open charcoal fire (dry roasted), are easy on the digestion.....obviously meaning tandoor cooking is healthy as well as tasty.

With the passage of time and invasions from the west and the North West increased and gradually the culture of Vedic India was not limited in its geography. Scriptures in ancient Indian languages found along the silk route also describe similar cooking methods. Another famous physician of the BC era, Charvak, describes healthy ways of cooking meats on sit-fires, the right marinades as well as the healthy smearing and tenderizers that could impart maximum flavor to the meats.

The thread of identification continues through antiquity, right to present day North Western India, extending to neighboring countries (politically distinct identities but nevertheless sharing the same history...or why would the tandoor be the preferred oven for villages in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan...??...point for our political fathers to ponder on).

By the fifteenth century, the tandoor was firmly in position as the baker's kitchen in every marketplace having at least one. In addition, often village community had community tandoors for baking their daily bread.... The Mughals came, and went, so did the colonizers...but the tandoor flourished. Today it occupies a place of pride in the Five Star cuisines of Indian hotels, in the taste buds of Indian youth..and in the psyche of the countries that wish to taste that delectable , rich and distinctive cuisine, Indian food.

It is very probable that an average British today consumes almost as much tandoor cooked food as does an average Indian...for in countries like England, tandoori food finds great patronage...whether identified as Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi or Middle Eastern. After all, tandoor is a tandoor by any other name...and as delightful.