Ever since being discharged from the hospital, I’ve been itching to cook but everyone (especially the lovely ladies at Singapore Home Cooks!) has been telling me to close my kitchen and rest.

I felt fine after taking Tramadol as painkillers for the first day but found that it caused me to have shallow breathing – that’s one of its side effects. But being someone with a slight anxiety disorder, the symptoms were getting too familiar. The weak breathing reminded me too much of having an anxiety attack. In order not to confuse my brain, I decided to put myself off Tramadol and just take Panadeine, which really isn’t of much use in relieving the pain.

I haven’t really cooked for the past week. Ok, I tried to cook on Wednesday (I was discharged on Tuesday) but felt so useless after feeling tired cooking ONE airfried salmon dish. I tried again to fix a pasta dinner on Friday but it took me so much effort just to cook penne. I stopped cooking and went back to bed, super disappointed and dejected like WHEN WILL I BE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING AGAIN?

It didn’t help that the next day, my aunt decided to tempt me to cook by buying home a gorgeous head of USA purple cauliflower and some sweet mini peppers.

I sent the husband to go get some bacon from the supermarket, because I knew exactly what I wanted to make with those sweet peppers!

I didn’t want something too complicated or labour intensive so cream cheese stuffed peppers sounded perfect. I gave Jason instructions to make a cream cheese dip with fried bacon, garlic, chopped spring onions, some truffle salt and a little bit of lemon juice. Mix it all up like so:

The peppers were then sliced lengthwise and seeds removed. We stuffed the filling into the cavity of each pepper, wrapped them with bacon, then baked the whole lot in a preheated 190C oven for 22 minutes, until the bacon were crisped. We baked them in the oven so we could make more at a go, but you could make these in the airfryer too, at 160C for 12 minutes. We tried both methods and preferred the baked ones, although the airfryer was a real timesaver.

I remember having a similar version at one of the hippy cafes recently but because they used Jalapeno peppers, the heat was too much for me to take. Making these with sweet peppers was just perfect. You could also make a meat stuffing and top with mozzarella cheese. Or leave the crunchy peppers raw and fill them with cold chicken mayonnaise. I think that’ll just be as interesting.

My family loved these.. 88 even asked for second and third helpings! Thank you to the husband for taking instructions so well.. but sigh! I can’t wait to cook again!

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[Airfried Salmon Patties] is one of the earliest dishes I made in the airfryer, and it has appeared on our dinner table many times since. The dish is easy to prepare, budget-friendly, pretty healthy and chockful of flavour.

We usually buy our salmon frozen. They come in a packet of 6-7 salmon portions for about SG$22. You have no idea how much easier my dinner preparation has become because of them. All I do is this: remove frozen salmon from the freezer and transfer to the centre fridge compartment the night before, get home from work the next day, clean and dry salmon, season lightly (usually with home-made teriyaki sauce or lemon butter, and now I also have a favourite lemon-mayo + dill dip!), preheat my AF, and finally grill for 6 minutes at 180C.

In the meantime, I get some rice cooked and make a small salad. And dinner is ready in less than half an hour! Because I reach home at 6pm, I’m usually done with dinner preparations by 6.30pm max. Thank you Philips Airfryer. Because of you, we’re eating more fish (I almost NEVER cooked fish because I hate the oil splatter, and I’m not a fan of steamed fish) and I’m spending less time in the kitchen. You have improved my life in more ways than you can ever imagine. You have my vote for BEST KITCHEN APPLIANCE EVER!

Although the AF makes really delicious and moist grilled salmon, I wanted to eat salmon in more ways than grilled all the time! This weekend, I thought that I would make the salmon-potato patty that Jason likes very much, although the preparation was just a tad more troublesome than simply seasoning and airfrying a salmon steak.

I mashed three large sized Russet potatoes as the base- they’re the best for mashing because of their high starch content. To that, I added some mixed vegetables for crunch and colour, and some chopped parsley for a flavour lift. The seasoning was simple: just some salt, pepper and dill. And of course, I airfried a salmon portion and flaked it into the bowl before adding an egg and mixing them all up.

Shape into the size you like and coat with breadcrumbs. You could also shape these into little salmon balls (like finger food for the kids) instead of patties. Spray some oil before airfrying for 10 minutes to crispy, golden, perfectness.

I served it with some mayo and lettuce leaves by the side. We loved it. I think you will too!

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Lotus root is one of my favourite food because I identify with it. What? Yeah. Lotus root looks tough on the outside but when you cook them, they release such delicate flavours that makes you wonder if they’re the same entity as the “before cooking” version.

I usually use lotus roots in soups or a quick stir-fry, but I also like to make lotus root chips in my Philips Airfryer. Slice them up real thin and spray on some cooking oil. They become the most amazing snack in 15 minutes. Today I’m going to make burgers out of them. I got the idea of a lotus root burger from Nami, and slightly changed the recipe to include chopped prawns and water chestnuts and I also omitted the sauce. I could eat 20 of these because they’re so good, so delicately crispy and light, with the sweetness of pork, prawns and water chestnuts in every bite.

You can make a sauce to go along with these. Combine 80ml water with 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sake, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon mirin and cook til simmering. Add cornstarch solution (half tablespoon corn starch with 1 tablespoon water, mixed) and stir to combine. This will yield a sweet sauce that you can pour over the burgers. I omitted this step because I just felt like eating these with chilli sauce and ketchup, like finger food. They’re quite darn good!

The post Panfried Lotus Root Burger appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I made these Airfried Zucchini Patties sometime back, and decided to do a similar version with spinach. After all, my trusty Philips Airfryer makes frying so easy- I don’t even need to pan fry them in shallow oil but you can do that and achieve the same results.

Spinach is the choice vegetable for my family because they’re so nutritious and readily available. Whether you’re using round or sharp spinach, you won’t have a hard time finding them, unlike the very elusive YELLOW CHIVES which the veggie auntie told me she’s only seen twice in the two years she has been working there. It’s almost like they are wanted by the FBI.

I usually cook spinach by quickly blanching them in boiling water, adding to soups at the last minute, or stir frying them with anchovies. They’re a rich source of Vitamin K which protects your bones and helps to normalise blood clotting, Vitamin A (especially lutein, a carotenoid vitamin which many think of as the “Eye Vitamin”) and Iron (which is good for people like me who are sometimes anemic, sometimes not). More information on the nutritional components of spinach can be found here. I really loved making these spinach balls as they fun to eat. Anything fun to eat usually end up delicious!

Makes 20 Spinach Balls

What I used:

1 package fresh spinach, blanched, cooled, drained and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated
Half a yellow onion, chopped
1 egg
2 slices bread, toasted and processed into bread crumbs
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Half teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
Half teaspoon black pepper
2 slices Kraft singles, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon cornflour

1. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except breadcrumbs. Mix well.
2. Add the breadcrumbs last and shape into balls.
3. Airfry in preheated Airfryer at 180 degrees for 10 minutes. Alternatively, heat up some oil in a skillet and shallow fry each side til golden brown.

How much I spent:

$0.50 for spinach
$0.30 for carrot
$0.20 for onion
$0.80 for cheese
Everything else from my pantry!

Total cost per serving: $0.60 (6-7 spinach balls per person)

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I used to add parmesan cheese to my zucchini/ spinach patties but decided I prefer less potent cheese. I used kraft singles for these and the cheese melted beautifully within. This is a great way to start your picky eater on vegetables (I don’t mean your husband). I just hope Aegon will eat these!

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