The use of the tandoor is so entrenched in Punjabi culture that it forms a part of Punjabi folk songs. Punjabis have traditionally used the tandoor on a regional level to cook meat dishes and breads. According to Kehal (2009), the use of the Punjabi tandoor is associated with Punjabi cooking in undivided Punjab. was indigenous to the north west frontier province, now Pakistan, and the Punjab". Use Īccording to Kenihan and Kenihan (1990)"the tandoor method of cooking. Planalp (1971) notes that "the Panjab-style underground oven known as tandur is becoming increasingly popular in New Delhi" pointing to the Punjabi style of the tandoor. He further states that modern versions can also rest above the ground. According to Hayter (1992) the original versions of the tandoor "in the Punjab, a province in the north-west of India, were sunk neck deep in the ground". The tandoor is traditionally made of clay and is a bell-shaped oven, set into the earth and fired with wood or charcoal reaching high temperatures. Design Īccording to Ahmed (2014), Harappan oven structures may have operated in a similar manner to the modern tandoors of the Punjab. The tandoor in Punjab is also known as tanoor. Punjabi tandoori cooking is cooked in a tandoor ( Gurmukhī:ਤੰਦੂਰ Shahmukhi:تندور). Naan Īccording to the New Larousse Gastronomique (2018) culinary reference book, "the Punjabi naan is a white-flour, yeasted flat bread enriched with a little ghee – its tear-shape comes from being slapped on the side of a tandoor oven and baked partly hanging vertically". In the late 1940s, tandoori chicken was popularised at Moti Mahal in Peshawar by Kundan Lal Jaggi, Thakur Dass, and Kundan Lal Gujral, who are all Punjabi as well as the founders of the Moti Mahal restaurant. However tandoori chicken as a dish originated in the Punjab before the independence of India and Pakistan. Physical remains of chicken bones with char marks have also been unearthed. His team has found ancient ovens at Harappan sites which are similar to the tandoors so popular in the Punjab. According to archaeologist and vice-chancellor of Deccan College Professor Vasant Shinde, the earliest evidence for a dish similar to tandoori chicken can be found in Harappan civilization and dates back to 3000 BCE. Tandoori chicken ĭishes similar to tandoori chicken may have existed during the Harappan civilization. Lachha paratha is baked in the tandoor and is round in shape with multiple layers.Īccording to O'Brien (2013), "the Amritsari kulcha is a crisp, flaky roti made with refined flour it is stuffed with potato, onionblack pepper, chilli, cumin, and dried pomegranate seeds (anardana) and cooked in the tandoor". Steiner (2005) states that some villages in Punjab have communal tandoors. According to Davidson (2014), "the villages of Punjab had open-air tandoors where housewives would bring their dough to be rolled into rotis by the tandooriya".