I have ziploc freezer bag with chicken drumsticks in greek yoghurt, spicy marinade. Once in while, when I make noodle soup(ramen or maggi packet in hot water), I would dress it up with some lettuce, and one chicken leg out of the airfryer. It makes a lunch seem substantial, if there is some meat to it. You will surely find a lot of use for that air fryer.
yesterday I went to a mall and came across a Samsung microvave/ convection oven. It boats to do a lot of things of which slim frying is also one of the included options! wonder how well it will work! http://www.samsung.com/in/cooking-appliances/microwave-oven-convection-mc35j8085pt/ I initially wanted to buy an air fryer but now having second thoughts about it after seeing this product!
So the air-fryer is like a portable convection oven? How different would it be than a robust toaster oven?
If you have a cup of water in an aluminium or copper (fast heat transfer metals) saucepan, and the same cup of water in a ceramic/glass, and you heat one on a gas stove, the other in the microwave, which one gets to boiling first ? Making a roast chicken leg in a (robust?) Toaster oven versus in an Airfryer is a comparion like that. When you visit a shop with an airfryer on display (any brand/model will do), pull out the food tray, and inspect its bottom. That will have some manner of air-flow grooves. The various patents on the airfryers claim that those grooves receive the hot air from the top, and make them converge back up over the food that is kept in the wire basket in the middle. This converging vortex of hot-air is what makes the food feel more hot, & therefore, cook faster, and with much less oil. Typical toaster ovens do not have fans to move the air about; larger convection ovens (under-range or independent wall mounted ones) do, but then the food is not nearly as hot as the set temperature, perhaps because of the large amount of dead space. However, this dead-space is particularly useful when baking breads.
Nonya is a mixture of a little bit of Indian, a chunk of malay, and a further chunk of (hokkien) chinese. Recently someone asked me about making masala powders that come out like home cooking. I advised buying south Indian sambar powder, and north Indian garam masala, and mixing them in the ratio 2:1. That is Nonya Curry Powder. Much later, I found an internet recipe for making the Nonya Curry powder.... and voila... I was not far from the mix they suggested. Here is the link: Priya's Versatile Recipes: Nyonya Curry Powder I mixed a couple of teaspoons of MTR sambar Powder, and one teaspoon of something called Raj brand garam masala, and used it in a marinade for chicken thighs to go into the airfryer. Well... the result was not exactly like street roast chicken from Penang (Malaysia), but pretty close. Not having to cook what you eat contributes a great deal to how scrumptious it will taste.... don't you think so?
I had zero intentions of buying an airfryer but along came Prime Day and Amazon suckered me in with a 35% off retail. It's a handy appliance and I find myself using it a lot more than I anticipated. I've had success with the handful of things I've tried so far. 'Fried' baby potatoes for dum aloo and the results were quite good. Not quite like deep frying but good nevertheless. Still experimenting with temperatures and frying techniques. Planning to do bottle gourd koftas in the airfryer this week. If those are successful it will be an unequivocal winner as far as I am concerned. I found these perforated parchment liners that help to contain the drippings and make cleaning much simpler. Regular parchment works too. I cut it to leave a half inch margin on the sides to allow the air to circulate.
The air circulation within the contraption is quite turbulent. Anything that does not have sufficient "green" strength, will be broken to pieces, as well as get up in the air. Perhaps the perforated parchment will protect the kofta-balls. If it does so, well, then, there is even hope for making other things that are shaped and (traditionally) fried in oil.... like vada or bonda. Post your experience with the kofta. Caution: if stuff gets broken up in the airfryer, there could be a need to clean the ceiling of the cavity as well.
I will. I'm pretty sure bondas are doable. Vadas - I have my doubts. I used it to fry paneer and tofu for some dishes. Did a swell job. Best was not having to dodge the splatter from frying paneer. I've burnt myself n-number of times doing that. Have you tried a whole chicken? Rotisserie style. I suppose it would be possible to cook a smallish young chicken whole.
