5 Foods Kids can Cook with the Philips AirFryer

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We hardly do any deep frying at home. Other than the fact that my belly contains its own reservoir of oil, I detest the lingering odours of fried food in the house. So when I first heard of the Philips Airfryer XL (a newer and bigger sibling of the original version), I was dubious. I suspected it to be just another gimmicky kitchen contraption with one sole purpose - to take up valuable kitchen space.

One Philips Airfryer XL later, all doubts are gone. The Airfryer is a winner.

I could probably tell you all the amazing stuff that the Airfryer can do but something tells me that you already know that. In case you didn't, the Philips Airfryer can fry, roast, grill and even bake with its unique Rapid Air technology (think very very very hot hair-dryer). And all this, with up to 80% less fat too! In fact, it can make nearly anything and at a fast speed too. It is like a mini convection oven on Gummiberry Juice.

Suffice to say, the wifey's brain began conjuring up recipe after recipe the minute we welcomed the Airfryer into our home. And the first things that she made were French Fries and Garlic Bread. Why do I get the feeling French Fries will be the first thing most people make when they get the Airfryer?

While the results were not exactly like fries fried in oil, they were pretty close, with a crisp exterior and soft interior. So the wifey then got a little more adventurous next - with Har Cheong Gai, or Prawn Paste Chicken!

She even grilled some steak in the Airfryer!

The wondrous thing about the cooking process is that it is all so effortless. All we had to do was to prepare and marinate the food, pop them into the Airfryer and after a few minutes, they were done! And the taste was almost identical to those being cooked on the stove, minus the extra oil.

But all these pale in comparison to one amazing thing the Airfryer can do - it BAKES! How it manages to accomplish that is beyond me, but trust me when I say that is the single most important feature that delighted the wifey to no end.

Truth is, the wifey has always been habouring a desire to bake at home - cakes, muffins, pies, pastries, you get the idea. But our kitchen is so miserably tiny that even an army of ants will find it a squeeze to throw a party in it. Which effectively dashed her hope of having a convection oven in our kitchen.

But with the Philips Airfryer, it was a dream come true.

The machine did not take up too much space in the kitchen but most importantly, it was easily movable to different parts of the kitchen. So it was no surprise that the wifey went into overdrive mode when it came to her baking conquests.

The first time she made chicken pies using the Airfryer, both Ash and Ayd were so intrigued by them - they devoured the pies in record time too - that they volunteered to help out in the baking too!

Not that we minded, of course. After all, letting kids to help out in the cooking reaps tremendous benefits (besides making a royal mess of the kitchen): building up self-esteem and self-confidence, being self-reliant and independent, cultivating an appreciation for real ingredients, and of course, having family bonding time together.

So over the course of 2 weekends, here are 5 foods that the monkies made using the Airfryer.

1. Ham & Egg Bread Cups

These are ridiculously easy to make. Stuff a piece of normal bread into a muffin mould, crack an egg into it and top it off with bits of ham and shredded cheese. Pop them into the Airfryer, and voila - an appetizing breakfast dish for the weekends!

2. Sausage Rolls

We got the ready-made Shortcrust dough from the frozen section in the supermarket, and all the monkies had to do was to knead and roll the dough into shape and wrap them round the sausages. Easy peasy, and apparently more fun than playing with Playdoh... according to the monkies!

3. Rainbow Nutella Croissant 

Again, we got the ready-made puff pastry from the supermarket and the monkies had a field day spreading nutella onto the pastry and rolling them up. Ale's favourite part was undoubtedly getting the chance to garnish the croissants with rainbow sprinkles... and conveniently popping some into her mouth in the process as well.

4. Cheese Mochi Balls

This one required more steps and effort than the previous three foods, but the mochi balls turned out to be a huge hit with the monkies. The recipe is as follow:

Ingredients:
100g glutinous rice flour
100ml milk
½ teaspoon vegetable oil
50g Parmesan cheese

Dump everything into a blender and make small balls from the formed dough. Pop them into the Airfryer at 150° C for 12 minutes. For an added oomph - according to the monkies, that is - plonk a piece of bak kwa on the mochi ball.

5. Pizza

I don't think this needs any introduction.

Self-made pizzas are always a hit with kids, especially since they get to experiment with all kinds of ingredients. The plus point about the Airfryer is that I do not have to preheat it like how I will need to for a conventional oven. The cooking is really quite instantaneous!

And the best part of letting the kids have a hand in helping out in the kitchen? They always finish up the food that they cooked!

Even the cleanup is so simple that the boys could do it. Just let the removable basket or pan cool and wash with soapy water. If food is stuck on the basket, soak it in warm soapy water for a while and wash it off thereafter.

I never thought healthy cooking could be this quick and fuss-free. With the Philips Airfryer XL, it is such a breeze and best of all, it even made the monkies come up with stuff they will want to make whenever the weekend rolls along!

Need more information? Check out the full details HERE. Or if you already own one, be inspired by the hundreds of recipes, all done with the Airfryer, at ‘I Love Philips Airfryer’ Facebook group. Some of the recipes are just amazing!