My review of Philips Air Fryer and recipe for Onion Pakoda (2024)

Pin

Review of Philips Air Fryer | My experience in cooking a variety of dishes in the air fryer | Recipe for Onion Pakoda in Air fryer

Are you in a dilemma whether to invest in an air fryer? Are you thinking if it is worth the extra gadget on your already crowded kitchen counter? Whenever the air fryers go on big sales, I am often asked this question – should I get an air fryer? Is it worth it for my family?

Here’s the deal…

I totally understand where you are coming from and have struggled with the same thoughts myself. I go through the same questions before buying any new gadget in my kitchen and it is such a temptation alright. I promise you after reading my long post, regarding my experience in cooking with the air fryer, you will be able to come to a decision.

Pin

When I first heard the term ‘air fryer’ over a year ago, I actually laughed out loud, full of skepticism. Can one actually fry in air?? Yes, the term is slightly misleading. Here’s what an air fryer really is. It is built like a small oven, that quickly bakes things to a crisp, giving it a fried feel, both to look at and to taste. It wouldn’t be wrong to call it an oven on steroids, given its performance.

There are plenty of airfryer reviews all over the internet, so I am going to focus on some questions my blog followers asked me on Facebook and of course the results of my experiments, cooking a variety of things using the air fryer, which I feel will be of great use to you in understanding if this is a worthwhile buy for your family.

Pin

Does theair fryeroccupy too much space?

It’s reasonably a small machine, occupying roughly 3/4th the space of a small microwave or so, but it is quite heavy so you cannot keep it on top of a microwave or oven. Mounting it on a higher shelf is also difficult as you need to be able to easily remove the basket, shake up the contents and put it back while it is air frying. Also, if you need to use it on a regular basis, it is pointless storing it away inside one of the cabinets, because then it becomes really cumbersome to pull out and use. So you need to make sure you have a small dry spot on your kitchen counter with access to a power source

Does theair fryer cause loss of nutrients?

When vegetables are cooked at high temperatures, there is a loss of heat labile vitamins. But when you consider the same vegetables being fried in oil at temperatures around 175-190°C, it will cause the same loss of vitamins and nutrients, plus not to mention adding hundreds of calories from the oil itself. Also heating oil to smoking point while making deep fried food also releases chemicals harmful to health in the long run, not to mention the health hazards of reheating the same oil to fry. Give that the cooking period is very short, rarely over 10-15 minutes, it is a safer bet than prolonged cooking on high heat in stove top

Pin

Does theair fryer make really good fries?

To most people, the air fryer is associated with fries. Especially parents with young kids, the fries are a big draw, especially when we don’t want to take them to a certain fast food chain, to get them a highly processed meal. Let me tell you a secret, I have never ever made fries at home, of the deep fried variety, that is. But did i like the air fryer effect? You bet I did. I used fresh potatoes, and not the frozen sticks variety. Peeled, and cut into sticks, soaked in salted water (this is to get the excess starch out), dried them thoroughly on a towel, tossed in 1 tsp oil per potato, and then put them in the preheated air fryer for 10 minutes. Sprinkle of salt when they are out, the result was magic. Golden and crunchy on the outside and soft inside, I for one, felt they were as good as the fast food outlet variety, but made straight from a potato and not from something sitting in the deep freezer for ages. I haven’t tried wedges, potato skins etc. but I do mean to keep trying newer recipes, which you can catch on my Facebook or Twitter. Hear the crunch of the fries in this Instagram Video

Ok, I’m sold on the fries.WHAT ELSE can i make in the air fryer?

Crispy veggies:** I tried making crispy karela (bittergourd) with good success, so I am quite sure other veggies like Bhindi (okra), Tendli (Ivy gourd) can be used similarly to get crispy results with just 1-2 tsp of oil

My experience: I parboiled some of the homegrown small karelas in salted water. Drained them and throughly dried on a towel. Cut into long slices after discarding seeds, tossed in spices (except salt) and a little gram flour, put in a single layer in the basket in a preheated airfryer. In around 10 minutes, they were done to a crisp. I was very happy with the end result in this case

Pin

Updated on 13 July, 2015:

Recipe for Karela chips in Airfryer

Sliced lengthwise and deseeded the baby bitter gourds.Marinate them in salt for 2 hours.Wash and dry them on kitchen towels.Preheat airfryer at 200 celsius. Toss thethe bittergourd slices in 1 tsp oil and place them in basket.Set timer at 12 minutes and remove when shrivellled, somewhat browned and crisp.Dust with chaat masala or spice of choice

Potato and other starchy veggies:You can make the typical Tambrahm potato / colocassia (seppankizhangu) / vazhakka (plantain) crispy roast by par boiling, dicing, coating in spices and 1 tsp oil and then air frying to a crisp texture.

Seppankizhangu Roast in Air Fryer:I tried the colocassia roast. Boiled and peeled colocassia cut into a dice, tossed in spices, bit of rice flour and salt, in the air fryer for 10 minutes with a couple of tosses at regular intervals. Quite happy with the result here. For a traditional touch, you can do a tadka of curry leaves, red chillies, udad dal in oil after removing from the air fryer into a bowl

You can make crispy chips with many vegetables in the air fryer. Check out these addictive Beetroot Chips

Roasting/grilling veggies for pasta or salad

Eggplant, bell pepper, zucchini etc can be tossed in some olive oil, garlic and herbs and roasted in this to perfection, and then tossed in a pasta or a salad

Toss eggplant and zucchini in oil with garlic and herbs (no salt, as this will leech out all the water and make it soggy), and put in air fryer for 5-7 minutes as you just want them roasted and not crisp. Used it as a sandwich filling with a pesto spread, it turns out delicious

Check this out: Roasted fig salad (roasted in air fryer)

Pin

Can I make a pizza in the Air Fryer

Since this is like a smaller oven, that heats up very quickly, a variety of breads can be baked in the air fryer and that includes pizzas.

Check this out: Naan Pizza in Air fryer

Pin

Calzone made in Philips Air Fryer

My experience: I tried both pizza and calzone from scratch and got fantastic results. Here’s where it scores over a regular oven. It goes from room temperature to 200 C in less than 4 minutes and the pizza is done in 5-7 minutes, depending on the thickness, as against 25 minutes or so in the oven

The size being a restriction, you can only make small sized personal pizzas in this, but the advantage
is each can have their own topping and it is ready in 5 minutes. You can also use readymade pizza base. {this also answers the question, how is the air fryer better than an oven, asked by a few people}

Can I make Onion Pakodas in Air fryer

This is everyone’s favourite question! A very thin drippy batter pakoda will not work in this, but anything coated with a dryer batter works. But I found the results to be around 75% of the fried taste and texture. May be the next time, I shall try with lesser thickness, so it crisps up further. If you will be using the pakodas for kadhi or some other recipe, then it will work very well. You can also make some tasty and healthy snacks such as my hugely popular recipe – Crispy Broccoli in air fryer.

By popular demand, I’ve shared the detailed recipe for onion pakoda in air fryer below.

Baking cakes and muffins in air fryer

Keep individuals cake / muffin tins in the lower compartment. Preheat to the required temperature, which is very quick and then bake for the time given in the recipe. I have baked both sweet and savoury muffins.

Check this out for your little ones: Eggless Chocochip Muffins

Can I frypapads in air fryer?

I realised that papads don’t work in this. I coated papad with a thin layer of oil and kept in preheated airfryer, while checking in 30 second, it was no longer in the basket. It had flown up, due to the air blast and gotten stuck to the heating coils, getting nearly burnt. Because of the high volume of hot air blasted, anything as light as a papad cannot stay put in the basket and therefore not possible to air-fry it.

Is it difficult to clean the air fryer?

It’s quite easy to keep it clean. When using wetter food, line the basket with foil or parchment, but taking care that the edges are open for air flow. For dry stuff like fries this is not required. Both the wire basket and the metal basket containing it can be removed and washed with gentle detergent or in dish washer. The wire mesh in basket can be scrubbed using a small brush to unclog food from the gaps

It’s great if you need to provide constant snacks for your growing kids, this appliance does make it easy to alternate between fresh fruits, veggies and the ‘fried’ fun stuff. One does need to remember however that just because it is air fried, you cannot have a bucket of fries and then expect not to gain weight. It is a good substitute for the occasional fried foods, but eating larger portions because it is not deep fried in oil, is quite the losing proposition. Otherwise, it is a fun gadget to have around and you can experiment with different recipes on your own as you get used to it. The gadget does come with a recipe booklet with many Indian recipes included.

Buy the Philips Airfryer on Amazon:

Philips Viva Collection HD9220 Air Fryer BLACK

Philips Viva Collection HD9220 Air Fryer WHITE

Pin

Want to browse through all my Air fryer recipes? I have a collection of them right here.