Can you make tandoori without a tandoori oven?
Yes and no. Surely, given that the name of the dish is
Tandoori {Whatever}, you can't
really make it without a tandoor. By the same token, the main characteristics imparted to food by virtue of being cooked in a tandoor can be accomplished, at least in part, through other means. The main characteristics I feel a tandoor affords something like chicken is a very juicy interior with a nicely dry (perhaps even mildly/pleasantly leathery exterior - remember, Tandoori Chicken is generally skinless). I can't figure out how to get just the right amount of leatheriness in the exterior, but to get that juiciness you'd use chicken thighs instead of breasts, which seem to be more common in restaurants. The same reason many Americans are eschewing chicken thighs (internal fattiness) is the reason why they work best for Tandoori Chicken made without a tandoor.
For me, though (and especially now that I'm a vegetarian) Tandoori was always about the masala (that specific mix of spices). There are loads of recipes for Tandoori Tofu and Tandoori Seitan, out there. Most recently, I made Tandoori Chik'n (Chik'n being a mycoprotein-based chicken cutlet simulate). Quorn's Chik'n is obviously different from chicken and one of the differences is that, although it seems in many ways like chicken breast meat, it is simply juicier inside than chicken breast meat typically is, when prepared in the same ways. So it actually worked incredibly well for Tandoori Chik'n. However, it definitely did not have the same pleasant leatheriness that I referred to earlier.
We love vegetable curry and I've fried naan.
Fried naan? Indian funnel cakes?
I also love paneer dishes.
I just wish I could find paneer in the regular grocery store, instead of having to diver to the upscale or Asian market. I've tried substituting other cheeses (feta, for example), or even tofu, and it simply isn't even close.
I just wouldn't cook Indian/middle east food for the first time for guests. I think it takes some practice; at least it did for me.
I think everything more advanced than spaghetti and pasta sauce from a jar takes some practice. I think if you follow a recipe for (let's leave the tandoor out of this) a curry to the letter, you'd be as successful as following the recipe for chili con carne to the letter. The fact that it is Indian food instead of Tex-Mex won't make much of a difference.
Not sure what kinds of cookbooks these are that are calling for it. Generally the color would come from some sort of spice. Turmeric is a common spice you find in this dish. It is a mustard yellow spice that doesn't add too much flavor but adds that wonderful color you find. I'd use that instead.
