Air-fried Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients
2 russet medium potatoes
2 tbsp of butter
2-3 garlic cloves (minced)
Salt and black pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese
Shredded mozzarella cheese


Methods
1) Scrub and clean the potatoes (skin intact).
2) Slice potatoes thinly but not through, by placing a chopstick at each side will prevent slicing through.
3) Melt butter & fry minced garlic on wok.
4) Preheat air fryer at 180 degree C for 3-5mins.
5) Line the air fryer grill pan/basket with foil with the sides fold up to act like a shallow pan, this will help to collect the melted butter.
6) Pour melted butter over potato without garlic, garlic will be burnt will add in to air fry for a long time.
7) Air fry for 30mins same temperature.
8) Baste the potatoes with melted butter collected on the foil at every 10mins interval
9) 2-3 mins before done sprinkle with salt, pepper, cheddar n mozzarella cheese

Tips:
- The cooked garlic minced could be use for another dish, the main idea is for the butter to be fragrant. 
- Basting helps to prevent the potatoes from drying up.

Air-fried Baked Rice

Michelle shared a fantastic idea to bake rice using air fryer for whatever leftover from the previous meal. So I purposely cooked additional rice and made more creamy butter sauce for the previous meal, I also kept some broccoli and carrots to be used. Here's my version of baked rice using another Philips accessory, the baking pan.

Ingredients
2 pax overnight cooked rice
1 tbsp butter
4 garlic cloves (minced)
3 tbsp of broccoli florets
2 tbsp of carrot cubes
1 veal sausage (sliced)
8-10 tbsp of creamy sauce (I used the leftover from creamy butter sauce)
3 tbsp of shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp of shredded mozzarella cheese

Methods
1) Preheat air fryer for 3-5mins at temperature 180 degree C.
2) Melt butter inside baking pan for about 1-2mins.
3) Saute minced garlic for about 1-2mins or until fragrant.
4) Add in broccoli florets and carrot cubes to fry for 3-4mins. Add a little water will help to speed up the softening.
5) Add sausage slices and cook for 2-3mins or until they turn slightly browned.
6) Add in the rice and mix well.
7) Pour in the enough creamy sauce and mix well, level the rice with a ladle.
8) Sprinkle cheese evenly and air fry for 8-10mins. Above photo was done in 8mins.

Tips: You could use whatever ingredients you have and any store bought pasta sauce.

Sweet Hearts Cheesecake

"Oh no my block of cream cheese is expiring soon!" I exclaimed when I was checking my stuffs from the fridge. Time to make something out of it, here's a easy one from Angela Chia.

Ingredient

250g cream cheese block
65g castor sugar
1 beaten egg
6 oreo cookies
Fresh vanilla beans or essence
Red food coloring gel
Toothpick

(Recipe modified from Angela Chia's.)

Method
1) Remove the cream sandwiched between the oreo cookies and place the cookies into bakable cup.
2) Cut cream cheese block into cubes and whisk together with the sugar well. Add in egg and vanilla beans till combined.
3) Scoop the mixture into 6 cups and leave a bit of the mixture for coloring. Firmly tap/knock the cups on tabletop to burst the trapped bubbles.
4) Using a piping bag, snip off the tip and pipe 7 dots on the top.
5) Use a toothpick to circle/ connect all the 7 dots forming a trail of connecting hearts.
6) Bake at pre-heated oven at 150 degree Celsius for about 20mins.
7) Cool at room temperature and fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.

The fresh vanilla beans really enhanced the flavor

Air-fried Rosemary Garlic Grilled Prawns

I wonder what took me so long to pen down recipes for air-frying dishes. This kitchen appliance is my new love and it really does wonders being a helpful assistance. Not only that I could cooked french fries without oil or little oil, it makes food juicer and cook faster. Here's a grilled dish making use of my newly purchased accessories, the double rack with skewers.

Ingredients

8 prawns (medium size will be ideal, mine were large prawns)

3-4 garlic cloves (minced)

1/2 tbsp melted butter

1 sprig rosemary leaves (chopped)

salt & black pepper

Green capsicum (prepare 8 slices)

Methods

1) Marinate the prawns with all above seasoning for an hour or longer.

2) Use 2 prawns and 2 capsicum slices per skewer.

3) Preheat air fryer.

4) With temperature 180 degree C grill the prawns for 5-6 mins.

5) Increase temperature to 200 degree C and grill for a min.

Tips:
Sometimes when I ran out of time I will lessen the marination timing for prawns, probably just a 10mins will do.

For air frying, you could always open the drawer to check on your food and it is advisable to do so. After all this cooks faster compared to conventional cooking hence is good to check before they turn overcooked.

This dish could be done in oven as well. It is much faster to do it in air fryer and the prawns will retain the juiciness. The only disadvantage will probably be the quantity, you can't grill a lot at one go.

Creamy Butter Prawns

The pricing for seafood is known to be expensive during Chinese New Year but not all true for this year. I learned from the news that the price for prawn has gone down instead. So here it is, more prawn dishes on the dining table ;) The recipe is available at Creamy Butter Crab page except that I replaced crab with prawn and omit curry leaves since I didn't have it. I have also added small red onion which added some sweetness to the dish.

I used 8 large prawns for this but maintained the amount of sauce quantity which will be a lot. I did it on purpose to keep the creamy butter sauce for the next day to make baked rice.

Year End Parties (with Pasta Salad & Air-fried Roast Chicken recipes)

Hosting a party can be pretty stressful especially when you need to cook for many people. Planning is important and if things can be done in advance it does help a lot so that you being the host is able to mingle with your guests. Honestly speaking I am very lousy when it comes to cooking for a big crowd as normal days I only cook for my hubby and I. Hence I still have a lot to learn on the art of hosting parties. For example a cake or cream puffs could be done a day in advance. Freshly baked bread is an ideal starter especially if you have a bread machine. Start the machine 3 hours prior to the meal time and when the timer beeps you that the bread is ready, that's the ring for the meal commencement. Serve with some butter, cheese or balsamic vinegar over some wine. Doesn't that sound great? If you have more time, soup will definitely be a crowd-pleaser when served with bread.

Another item that you could prepare earlier is the pasta salad. It has carbohydrate being the staple food and vegetables to balance the diet. If your party is for dinner, you could prepare this as early in the morning and leave it in the fridge. Recipe of Pasta Salad is found in this page.

For meat item I will go with a roasted whole chicken and this can be done in 30mins in a air fryer and an hour in the oven.

PASTA SALAD

Ingredients

1/2 box of pasta (any shapes, I used bow tie)
2 hard boiled eggs (boiled, remove shells and sliced)
2-3 potatoes (boiled till soft and cut into big cubes)
1 box of cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 Japanese cucumber (1/2cm sliced)
100g streaky bacon (cut into small pieces, rinse with water, squeeze dry and fry/air fry till crispy)
10 grey prawns (remove shells & veins, boiled till cooked)
1 box of raisin to sprinkle

Salad sauce
1/2 bottle of mayonnaise
About 5 tbsp of fresh milk (depends on how runny you want the sauce to be, amount can be adjusted)
Pepper
Few drops of fresh lemon juice

Methods
1) In a pot of boiling water with few drops of olive oil and salt, cook pasta till Al dente. Drain the water and leave aside to cool.
2) Separately prepare all other ingredients.
3) When all ingredients are cooled, prepare the salad sauce and toss everything together lightly in order not to mash the potatoes.
4) Keep in fridge until ready to serve.

These ready-cooked baby back ribs are so good, they are tender and flavorful. I got them from Foodie Marketplace and all you need is to defrost them and bake at 160 degree for 20mins. If you don't tell your guests these are store-purchased, they couldn't tell. All they will see is you bringing the tray out from the oven and serve right to their table ;) Shhhhhhhh.....

 AIR-FRIED ROAST CHICKEN

The air-fried roasted whole chicken is easy and quick. About 30mins at 180 degree C and another 5mins at 200mins C is all it takes to impress my guests. Timing varies according to the size of the chicken. The advantage of air fryer is having the flexibility to pull out the basket and check as often as you like.

Ingredient
1 spring or small chicken (that can fit into Air fryer)

Seasoning
1 tsp Oyster sauce
1/4 tsp Dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
1/2 tsp Sesame oil
Pinch of pepper

Note: I am using kitchen measuring spoons, they are bigger compared to cutlery spoons.

End year is all about parties and food, from Christmas's eve all the way to New Year day. One whole week to celebrate with food. Here are some photos of what I had cooked up with:

Homemade Avocado Dip & Teh Tarik

Weird or interesting combination? It wasn't my intention to have such an exotic match, I just happened to buy some nice ripe avocados and tea dust from Sheng Siong Supermarket so churn out these for afternoon tea break. Learn the easy dip from my friend's hubby who is a good cook and this goes very well with tortilla chips.

AVOCADO DIP
2 ripe avocados
Mayonnaise
Lime juice
Salt & pepper to season

Simply dice the avocados and mix with the rest of the ingredients to taste. For the mayonnaise, I added about 3 tablespoonful to make it creamy. Prepare a pack of tortilla chips and savor with the dip.

I love Teh, Teh Si and Teh Tarik. These are easily available in Singapore at any coffeeshop but when I was in Australia for whole 2 weeks I couldn't find any. Really miss these Teh so much when I was away. After I am back in Singapore, besides developing a liking for dessert wine I also want to make my own teh. Purchased a small pack of tea dust (Coconut brand) from Sheng Siong Supermarket for less than $2.00 and using a tea sock. Happy with my result and now I can enjoy my pulled tea whenever I like.