Air Frying

Today, because I'm trying to get us all eating healthily, I picked up an air fryer. I just learned about this new beast when I attended a vegan cooking class last month. The new toy is really just a little convection oven that cooks without oil (or with just a little spritz of oil) by rapidly circulating very hot air around food, crisping the outside and giving it the texture of deep fried food. Air fryers cook a lot more quickly than convection ovens (usually in about 60% of the time.)

The first thing I tried were zucchini fries. I just chopped up a zucchini into shoestring fry shapes, threw them in a basket, and cooked them for 15 minutes at 350°F with no oil. They came out somewhat crisp, grease-free, slightly caramelized, and with their flavor greatly intensified. Then I tried regular shoestring French fries. Although the basket contained about as many French fries as it could hold (I should probably have cooked them in two batches), they cooked fairly evenly (the outer ones were slightly crispier.) I gave them just a light misting with oil (about a half second spray) and cooked them at 400°F for 20 minutes. They were the best French fries I've ever had, and they went down well with vegan hot dogs! So far, I'm very happy with the results.

I plan to try Air Fryer Orange Tofu next. I'll serve it with Instant Pot Fried Rice. I've never had much success with making my own veggie burgers (they tend to crumble), but I'm told these hold together well in the air fryer, so burgers with a variety of veggie fries are also on the agenda. And then I want to try vegetable tempura.

I'm trying to avoid making desserts. However, Laura and Emma, with all the running and tennis they do, can well afford some extra calories. I'll be able to make them individual chocolate lava cakes in the air fryer very quickly and easily. I've been getting them packages of "chocolate cake in a mug" kits. One mixes the contents of a pouch with some water, cooks it in a mug in the microwave for just over a minute, and then adds a small pouch of chocolate frosting to the result.

Cooking is becoming so quick, easy, hygenic, and convenient! And healthy ingredients like quinoa, tempeh, and vegan meat and dairy analogs are so readily available! I'm looking forward to using my air fryer and multicooker in tandem to experiment with many new recipes. So far, I've been surprised by their ease of use and by the quality of food they produce. Both lend themselves well to preparing vegan meals, and both cook food very quickly. They also make cleanup a cinch. The air fryer has one little basket to wash, and the multicooker just one teflon-coated pot.