Charlotte Eve and Kate Edwards tell Joanna Davis about their one of a kind workshop - which will teach people how to build tandoor ovens to cook mouth-watering Indian cuisine.

NOTHING tastes quite like food cooked in the great outdoors.

But how about taking a step up from the bangers and burgers we’re so used to on the barbecue?

Charlotte Eve and Kate Edwards of Lyme Regis are stepping the nation’s love of outdoor cooking up a notch with the launch of their unique tandoor oven building workshop.

They begin one day workshops in June which will teach people how to build a tandoor oven in their back garden to cook delicious Indian food in.

These will be the UK’s first ever tandoor oven building workshops.

They are aimed at curry lovers, who can take their cooking up a gear and build their own earthen tandoor oven. Curry is still the UK’s favourite dish, so the workshop will be a must do course for any foodie in 2019.

Course tutor Kate Edwards has built award-winning cob houses, studios, sculptures and bread ovens and now she’s perfected the art of sculpting an authentic, giant, earthen tandoor.

Kate said: “Your finished tandoor is also a beautiful sculptural feature for your garden. And everyone is drawn to it at a party – keeping warm by the tandoor fire whilst inhaling the spices and baking dough.”

Charlotte, a professional chef, explains: “It’s basically sculpting your oven using clay and sand – it’s cheaper than bricks, more sculptural and cooks more authentic wood fired bread and pizza. The original tandoors were also made of the same material.”

Charlotte has spent months perfecting her naan bread recipe and cooking in giant tandoors, using recipes and advice she’s collected from friends and relatives across India. She’s determined everyone enjoys the ultimate authentic lunch when they come on the course.

She said: “This course isn’t just about building a tandoor. It’s about eating as well and relaxing in an idyllic location beside the Jurassic coast. Whether you are passionate about outdoor cooking or you fancy a unique, hands-on and delicious day out this course is designed for anyone who loves eating!”

Charlotte and Kate founded cobcoourses.com 15 years ago, in which they taught thousands of people how to build their own wood fired pizza ovens using the traditional method of cob building.

Kate, who teaches on the workshop, explains: “I’ll show people how easy it is to build a tandoor with the earth – it’s the traditional way of doing it and it creates the most aesthetic looking oven for your garden. We believe this original type of tandoor definitely makes the best tasting Indian food. The wood fired tandoor cooks food at such an intense heat and so quickly, the end results are truly mouthwatering and quite different from anything you’ve probably tasted before this side of Bangalore!"

Charlotte and Kate’s pizza oven and house building workshops have been featured on BBC One, Channel 4, BBC Radio 2, The Guardian, Sunday Times, BBC Good Food Magazine, Delicious Magazine, Country Living and many other publications. But their tandoor workshop is an entirely new venture and never done before in the UK.

Tandoor oven workshops in 2019 are on Saturday June 8 or Friday June 28. Places are £160 and include a mouthwatering tandoor cooked curry lunch. To book contact Charlotte and Kate at cobcourses.com or phone 01297 444275.