Crispy lotus chips in the Philips Avance XL Airfryer

If you've ever been to the River Safari and lunched there, you might have tried eating these crispy lotus chips. Both the boys love crunching on them, and usually they are finished in a wink of an eye. Since the boys loved the chips so much, I decided to try making them in the Philips Airfryer, and managed to churn them out with some trial and error!

So here's how you can make your own lotus chips:

1. Peel lotus root, and slice into thin slices. Soak in cold water for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat Airfryer to 180 degrees Celsius.
3. Drain and dry lotus root slices with paper towels.
4. Toss slices with 1 tbsp of sesame oil (or if you wish, olive oil).
5. Add some salt, pepper and spices if you wish (you could experiment with cinnamon or curry powder, but they taste great with just some salt!), and toss to mix.
6. Place slices into Airfryer basket, and bake for 5 minutes. Open the basket, toss the slices and continue baking for another 5 minutes (Note: this is an estimate, as it depends on how thick your slices are).
7. The chips are ready once the slices are browned and crispy. Remove from the basket and let them cool. Tuck in and enjoy!

I'm thinking that these chips would be great amidst all the tidbits we usually have for Chinese New Year, and next up on our list to try would be apple chips, as well as chocolate lava cake! The Airfryer is really a versatile tool to have, especially in small kitchens without an oven. Thus far, we've baked brownies in the Airfryer, and have also fried chicken wings in there, along with our own home-made french fries:

We might also just try roasting a chicken in there for Christmas!

Oh yes, and if you are contemplating getting one (a Christmas present perhaps?), don't forget about this promotion:

An exclusive just for Mum in the Making blog readers:

Cook with Air today! Quote "Mum in the Making" and buy the Viva Digital Airfryer at $399 + $50 shopping voucher (Usual price: $459) and the Avance XL Airfryer at $479 + $50 shopping voucher (Usual price: $539) at the Philips Experience Showroom.* 

This promotion is valid from 1st December till 31st January 2014.

The Viva Digital Airfryer and Avance XL Airfryer are also available at regular prices, in leading electronics stores, departmental stores and supermarkets island-wide.

*Limited to 1 Airfryer per person (IC must be produced).

Philips Experience Showroom

Address: 620A Lorong 1 Toa Payoh Building TP4 Level 1 S(319762)

Tel: 6882 5800

Opening Hours: 

Monday to Friday: 9.00 am – 7.00 pm 

Saturday: 9.00 am – 1.00 pm. 

Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.

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Disclaimer: The Avance XL Airfryer was sponsored by Philips for purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was received, and all opinions are my own.

Late night baking with the Philips Airfryer

You know those pregnancy cravings? They were pretty bad in the first trimester. Then they disappeared during the second trimester. And now, with baby at 37 weeks, they have come back full force. While I craved spicy food earlier on, I have been hit by a serious need for chocolate the past two weeks. The hubby gets requests to drop by cafes to pick up chocolate cake for me. I have fork fights with my five year old when we share chocolate cheesecake. My poor Bible study group leader ends up being tasked to hunt for chocolate cake before group meetings. I sneak into 7-Eleven after bringing my kid to the PD to buy chocolate. Yes, those crazy chocolate cravings are pretty bad.

The cravings got so bad that one night, when I was up trying to declutter, I decided to bake because I really needed a chocolate fix, and Nutella spread on slices of banana was just not going to do the trick. So I baked a brownie. In my new Philips Avance XL Airfryer. It looks like this:

It is sleek and black, and boasts a larger capacity and heating power (1.2kg versus 800g, and 2100W versus 1400W) compared to the older airfryer models. I think one of the chief issues many had with the older models was that you couldn't fit more in it, something really important if you have a larger family to cook for! The basket measures slightly more than 21 cm across in width and depth, so it was perfect for my smaller baking tin:

So after all the mixing and stirring, in went the tin, and out came all these lovely chocolatey smells. And the brownie turned out pretty good, nice and crumbly without being too dry. 

I couldn't resist snapping a shot and posting on Instagram while waiting for the brownie to bake. One of the main responses I got was the question "you mean you can bake in the airfryer?". And of course, the answer is yes, going by the yummy brownie that resulted (which mostly has been eaten by yours truly at the time I'm writing this post).

We've also tried cooking home-made fries (Lil J simply LOVES his fries), as well as chicken wings in the airfryer. We've not done much deep-frying before the arrival of the airfryer, and I must say being able to cook stuff that usually requires deep-frying, but without all the grease that usually results is a huge plus point. That, and being able to use a lot less oil during the cooking process.

So you have this machine that helps you to fry those yummy fries and chicken wings with less oil, and allows you to bake as well. And grill, roast and gratinate. Quite a versatile kitchen helper, if you ask me! (Now if it could wash itself up, that would make it perfect. But then again, the basket is dishwasher-safe, so that's another plus point!)

Oh yes, and here's the brownie recipe (adapted from here) if you need a chocolate fix like me:

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
75g butter
75g semi-sweet chocolate
1 egg
60g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
40g self-raising flour
25g chopped walnuts or hazelnuts

Steps:
1. Line small low-sided cake pan with baking paper and grease the sides.
2. Melt chocolate and butter together slowly in a saucepan. Allow to return to room temperature.
3. Pre-heat your airfryer to 180 Celsius.
4. Beat the egg with vanilla essence, sugar, and a pinch of salt, until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in the chocolate and butter mixture, and fold in the flour and nuts.
6. Pour mix into cake pan, and put it in the fryer basket. Set time for 20 minutes. (Enjoy the chocolatey smells meanwhile!)
7. Remove from fryer, and cool in pan before cutting into pieces.

~~~~~~~

An exclusive just for Mum in the Making blog readers:

Cook with Air today! Quote "Mum in the Making" and buy the Viva Digital Airfryer at $399 + $50 shopping voucher (Usual price: $459) and the Avance XL Airfryer at $479 + $50 shopping voucher (Usual price: $539) at the Philips Experience Showroom.* 

This promotion is valid from 1st December till 31st January 2014.

The Viva Digital Airfryer and Avance XL Airfryer are also available at regular prices, in leading electronics stores, departmental stores and supermarkets island-wide.

*Limited to 1 Airfryer per person (IC must be produced).

Philips Experience Showroom

Address: 620A Lorong 1 Toa Payoh Building TP4 Level 1 S(319762)

Tel: 6882 5800

Opening Hours: 

Monday to Friday: 9.00 am – 7.00 pm 

Saturday: 9.00 am – 1.00 pm. 

Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.

~~~~~~~

Disclaimer: The Avance XL Airfryer was sponsored by Philips for purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was received, and all opinions (and chocolate cakes) are my own. You are welcome to come by to try some though, if there is any left that is!

One of the most used tools in our kitchen...

... is the hand-blender. It has been a life-saver especially when it comes to preparing baby food! When Junior J was a baby, we bought all sorts of weaning tools to prepare his food, only to abandon them for a hand-blender. After all, it didn't make sense to spend lots of time and elbow grease mashing food to a pulp when it could be easily done with the press of a button. And since an immersion hand-blender could be placed directly into the pot/bowl containing the food, it minimized washing up, which was another plus point. I would steam things up using those stainless steel cups, and then pop the hand-blender in to have baby J's meal ready in minutes.

However, there was one aspect I didn't quite like about our hand-blender, which was that the section that was immersed in food (except for the blade of course) was made of plastic. I wasn't too comfortable with the thought of placing plastic parts into piping hot food. Which was why I was delighted when I was given the chance to try out Philip's new Jamie Oliver hand blender, since it featured a metal bar and a titanium-coated blade.

I put the blender to the test for something I usually struggle with: mashing potatoes. Up to now, I've yet to find a good potato masher, and it always takes quite a bit of time for me to get the potatoes to the nice smooth creamy consistency that you get at restaurants. However, with the blender, which boasts a powerful 650W motor, my potatoes went from this...

... to this in less than a minute (after adding butter and cream of course).

And the verdict from our little foodie (who coincidentally shares the same name as the great cook behind the blender)? He approved, and proceeded to eat and make a huge mess as usual!

Another plus point for this hand-blender are the accessories that come with it. The chopper (see below) is useful for preparing pestos and mincing garlic and onions (I'm thinking about making chilli sauce with this!), while the whisk would probably come in handy for batters and whipped cream. A handy one litre beaker is also provided, perfect for storing batter or smoothies in the fridge until they are needed. Finally, I must admit the blender does look good. How often do you get an appliance that has a pretty cornflower blue (which is supposed to be Jamie Oliver's favourite colour) power cable and plug?

I've not been able to do much cooking this month, since we've been staying with either my parents or my in-laws... but I'm looking forward to our new kitchen and trying out new recipes with this blender! This recipe for creamy broccoli cheddar soup is probably one of the first things I will try when we move back.

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Keep life simple with the PHILIPS | Jamie Oliver range which includes a food processor (S$268), blender (S$128) and hand-blender (S$108). Available at leading electronics and departmental stores.

Disclaimer: The Jamie Oliver hand-blender was sponsored by Philips. No monetary compensation was received, and all opinions are my own.

Foodie Fridays: Summer slurping

Summer can be summed up at the market.  First come the strawberries, then the currants, followed by the blueberries, raspberries and cherries.  Then there is the onslaught of blackberries and plums.  We've been eating fruits by the punnet, and even freezing them to make ice cream:

In addition to all the books on summer that we've been reading, Junior J and I have been busy in the kitchen.  We were blessed with home-grown zucchinis, tomatoes and eggplants from a friend's garden, and made zucchini muffins (and had loads of ratatouille for dinner):

We didn't have a muffin tray, so the batter spread out and the muffins were rather flat, however, the boy loved them!

Then the boy also helped to make dessert some nights.  He was delighted when he was given a bowl of strawberries to wash and dry:

We melted some chocolate in a pan of hot water...

And he got to coat the strawberries with chocolate (and lick the spoon at the end of course)!

I also tried making rainbow popsicles (inspired by this mum's version!), but our freezer chose to conk out just after I added the last layer.  In the end, I tore up the paper cups (we didn't have popsicle molds, so I used paper cups and ice cream sticks) and squished the half-melted popsicles into glasses and called them "rainbow ice".  The boy still enjoyed his for dessert!

It was supposed to follow the colours of the rainbow:
Red (strawberries & raspberries), orange (orange juice), yellow (honey with freshly squeezed lemon),
green (kiwi), blue (blueberries), purple (blackberries).

Summer is nearly over, but we are looking forward to fall, and its harvest of apples and pumpkins!

Linking up with:

Happy Birthday, Singapore! (A breakfast, and a list)

Rice over here tends to be served sweet, unlike how we usually eat it back in Singapore. Since we were rather bored with our breakfast options (bread, cheese, oatmeal, cereal... and more bread, you get the picture), I thought I'd try making rice pudding instead!

In Europe, rice pudding is usually served cold with coconut and/or fruit as a dessert.  However, who says you can't have dessert for breakfast?  (Plus I thought it was a great way of getting in some protein into Junior J's diet during his "I don't want to chew meat" phase!)

So here's our own not so sweet recipe (serves 4), adapted from Jamie Oliver's "Jamie at Home":

Ingredients:

600 ml milk

100 g pudding rice (a short-grained rice would do)

Vanilla sugar (or honey if you prefer)

Strawberries

Strawberry jam (optional)

Steps:

1. Place milk and rice in a pot, and simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally, until pudding is thick and creamy.  Add honey/vanilla sugar to taste.

2. Slice strawberries while rice is cooking.  (You can substitute these with other fruit like peaches or other berries.)

3.  To serve, spoon jam over the rice (the amount is up to you) and add the fruit slices.  Done!

Since this post was going live on National Day, I couldn't resist making a Singapore flag out of the meal, by adding cheese shapes too:

And if you're wondering about the red and white drink that went with the pudding, it was our own version of a smoothie, with yoghurt and strawberries blended with orange juice.  

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Speaking of National Day, here are some of the things that we miss about home:

:: Being with friends and family.  And attending church, and Sunday school for Junior J!

:: All the local yummies: We miss slurping the yummy beef noodles at Marine Parade Central.  We think fondly of the times we spent sweating it out amidst steaming kettles of hot water, and having oh-so-fresh steamed fish with our bak kut teh at Owen Road.  We miss queueing up at Adam Road for our Nasi Lemak, and in Chinatown for the silky soft kway teow that goes with our yong tau foo (ok, the queueing up not so much).

:: Being able to eat out, and feed a family a full meal (including dessert) for under $10.

:: Having roti prata and wanton mee for breakfast.  Our friends here are rather horrified when they hear that we have noodles for breakfast sometimes.  Even though there's a huge variety of dairy and baked goods to choose from, we would much rather have this:

:: The wet market at our doorstep.  And being able to buy baby kailan, and getting free chilli padi from the auntie at the vegetable stall.  (The other day, we were over the moon when a friend helped us to buy kailan from the Asian shops in Dusseldorf, which is 1.5 hours away!)

:: Those little pockets of nature that we have, from Sungei Buloh and mangroves swarming with fiddler crabs, and even those mean macaques that might grab your kid's lunch.

:: Being able to indulge in water play outdoors and not worry about catching a cold:

:: Pasar malaams and all their yummy oily goodies sold on a stick.  But of course, those that are located some distance away from home (having to hear Celine Dion croon "my heart will go on and onnnn..." a hundred times a night isn't that nice!)

:: Having access to so many beaches and the sea, and being able to wear flip-flops and shorts the whole day without worrying that your toes might drop off!

:: Our efficiency: Administrative processes over here take ages to complete, and people take some time to reply emails, which make us appreciate how fast things get done back home, and how streamlined our systems are!

:: NLB and Popular: We are going broke here, having to buy our own English books for the kids, and stationery here costs quite a bit more.

:: Daiso: For its craft and bento stuff and everything else under the sun.

:: And finally those quirky aspects that make our country what it is.  The aunties on the bus who used to give a newly vacated seat a few hard thumps before sitting down.  The crazy sales.  And even Singlish, because it reminds me of home.

Happy Birthday, Singapore!  And now, I'd better go and cook some instant noodles for supper, to comfort myself after all the food talk... but wait ah... a little bit more hor!

~~~~~~~

This post is a happy collision between two fun blog trains that have been going on:

:: Breakfast for Champions:  Some mommy bloggers are sharing what they have been making for breakfast.  For more yummy recipes, click the button above!

Tomorrow, Jennifer from Little DinoEgg will be sharing about her tuna & corn wrap!  Jennifer is a working mum who wishes that she can relax while enjoying motherhood, but instead she has to deal with her feisty boy who is constantly testing her patience. She writes about everything that is happening around her at Little DinoEgg.

And...

:: Loving My Spot: Click the button above and be taken on a trip around Singapore.  Discover hidden gems, great eats and more!

For tomorrow, Summer, another mom staying overseas, will be writing about the things she misses about Singapore.  She is a media executive and part time Chinese teacher turned SAHM from Singapore.  She has a passion for writing, loves to travel and her life took a 360-degree change when she moved to Sweden four years ago and gave birth to the now 2-year-old Angel. She blogs at A Happy Mum, a place where she shares her joy on motherhood, DIY crafts, travelling and all things happy in life.

Bento Boxes: Ocean-themed bentos

Hello hello!  So here are some meals the boy had, to link in with all the books on the ocean that we've been reading:

:: Fish bento: Omelette, salad, baked baby potatoes.  The eyes of the fishes were made of golden currants, I find them perfect for the goldfish-eyed look!

:: A house for hermit crab bento: Our little hermit crab is walking along a bed of tuna, and has an anemone and starfish to accompany him (made of carrots).  His shell is made of baked corn with butter and herbs.  The corals are made of golden and red currants, as well as salad.  (Click here for another hermit crab bento!)

:: Pufferfish lunchbox, for after church: The boy had bread with cream cheese, currants, strawberries and two biscuits (Those were hello panda cookies sent to us by a dear DG mate.  I admit I hardly give him such biscuits, so he got two as a treat! :p).  The pufferfish were made of hard-boiled egg and cheese, and were swimming in a sea of cheesy peas.

:: Crab bento: The boy affectionately named the crab "Tip Tap" after the book he read!  We had bak kut teh soup that night, so I fished out some pork and mushrooms to form the base.  The seaweed was made of spinach.  Crab carapace was made from sweet potato mash, and the legs and chelipeds from carrot.

Happy weekend everyone!

Bento boxes: Useful tools

Hello!  I'm back to share some of the bento tools or materials that I find particularly useful.  There are a whole lot of tools out there, however, these are the ones that I have and use (all tools pictured here are from Daiso, except for the sandwich cutter):

- Food picks:
These come in a myriad of colours and patterns, and are great for dressing up food in a hurry.  I usually use them to hold fruit, or sometimes make "mini kebabs" using the longer ones, with fishballs and quails eggs.

- Silicon muffin cups: 

As mentioned previously, these are great to compartmentalize your bento box/plate, and keep food separated.  They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes too!  (Psst... Another option for packing fruits/vegetables would be to use lettuce leaves to form a cup instead.)

- Food cutters: 

Those shown below come in sets and are rather small in size, and are useful for cutting food into little shapes like flowers etc.  

You could also use normal cookie cutters to cut larger pieces of food, eg. bread/omelette, and there are also specialized sandwich cutters that are shaped to cut away the crust of the bread:

Daiso also sells sandwich cutters,
but the animal ones I've been using are by Lunch Punch.

- Rice molds: 
Rice molds come various shapes, and right now I only have the star-shaped version.  Aside from using that mold, I've tried improvising by using other kitchen containers to mold the rice.  For example, a tea cup was used to make the panda's head and belly (less rice for the head = smaller circumference!):

And a small rectangular plastic container was used to make the cow's body:

All in all, these tools are really useful... but do look around your kitchen (or even your fridge) for stuff you could use, and have fun!

Bento boxes: FAQs on food

Its Friday, and I'm back with more FAQs for bentos... but before I start answering them, I just thought I'd share the most important principle I've learnt while trying to make meals look good for the boy.  While I do get that sense of satisfaction after making a cute-looking lunchbox, it should always be nutrition over aesthetics.

Junior J is very sensitive to MSG, and we are also rather wary of preserved/processed meats.  So I usually try not to use pre-mixed pastes or sauces for him (save for stuff like soy sauce and sometimes a lil oyster sauce), and I try to add less salt for him.  He doesn't really eat sausages (but these are really versatile and convenient for lunchboxes, and many bento books feature them), so I try not to give him those, and I try to limit ham as well.  But we do give him cheese.  He's not fond of meat, so I do give him minced pork/beef, but we're lucky in the sense that he eats most vegetables, including salad.

So here's my list of commonly used ingredients that I usually have at hand in the kitchen:

Carbohydrates:
- Sweet potatoes: I prefer these over normal potatoes because of the nutrition content (plus I have to steam some for baby J anyway!).  They're really great when mashed cos you can make all sorts of shapes, and they come in various colours:

- Bread: This a great for lunchboxes that are brought out (think tuna sandwiches or egg mayo sandwiches), since pasta doesn't taste so great when its cold.  On busy days, I just make the boy a sandwich and use a sandwich cutter to make it look a little more interesting:

- Pasta:  We sometimes buy stuffed pasta (eg. ravioli or tortelloni) from the farmer's market, since its a convenient way to add protein into a meal.  The nice thing about pasta is that it comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, so a simple chicken soup with some alphabet pasta may be just the thing for a kid learning his alphabet!

You can make nests out of spaghetti!

- Rice: Of course you have to include this for our Asian diet.  (I'm excluding asian noodles for now since its not readily available in my case!)  I wish I could say we are eating brown rice, but Junior J isn't fond of it, so we're sticking to white for now.  Rice is really versatile since there are tonnes of rice molds out there that you can use to make various shapes, and you can colour rice using natural colourings like sweet potato and spinach.  Long-grained rice also works (no need to get the Japanese short-grained version), just be sure to add more water to make the rice more sticky.  Right now, we only have a star-shaped rice mold, so I've been experimenting with using various containers to get different shapes, or sometimes I just try using my hands! :p

My pathetic attempt at making a turkey!

Protein (and fats):
- Eggs: This is by far my favourite way of introducing protein into Junior J's diet (steamed fish used to be a hot second on the list, but over here fish is expensive and its mainly salmon, so we don't eat so much fish for now).  He loves it in all forms, be it sunny-side up, hard-boiled, half-boiled or in an omelette.

- Cheese: The boy loves cheese so I include it in his omelettes and sandwiches, or add it grated in pasta sauces.  Hard cheeses like emmental (which we prefer since its less salty than cheddar) are also great for adding decorations (I love how they add that extra splash of cheery yellow!), since they cut well with food cutters.  Cream cheese is also great for making dips/spreads.

- Meat: Usually Junior J gets chicken/beef/pork that has been cooked in soups or stews (ie quite soft), or minced meat in sauces.  I've not mastered stir-fries yet... so I can't really say much about these!

Fruits and vegetables:
These are by far the best way of introducing colour into bento.  Salads are great (eg. cucumber slices, lettuce and baby spinach) but some kids won't eat raw greens, and these usually get soggy in a lunchbox.  Good veggies that won't wilt in Singapore's hot weather would include:

- Beans, peas (which are great for protein too) and cauliflower:

A hermit crab digging in the sand (minced pork) amidst coral and seaweed. 

- Broccoli: This is versatile since you can make trees and greenery out of them.

Ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach, in tomato mushroom sauce.

- Carrots: Which are great for kids that run away at the sight of anything green on their plates.  Plus, they can be cut using food cutters too (sweet potato tends to be softer and may fall apart).

The flower and butterfly were made using carrot slices,
while the mushroom was made of rice and sweet potato mash.

- Seaweed: I find this one really useful for decorating food, since you can cut eyes and little details (there are punches that can help you cut out tiny details, but I don't have those, so I use a kitchen scissors).  Plus they are a great source of iodine!

For fruit, anything goes really!  But those that don't require cutting might last a little longer, compared to stuff like papaya that might get mushy.  Our favourites include:

- Strawberries and blueberries, which last longer out than raspberries and blackberries:

- Cherries and cherry tomatoes, and apple slices:

So all in all, just ensure you have a balance of carbs, proteins and fruit/veggies in the meal, pay attention to colours, and have fun!