I guess it is time to admit that despite owning (and loving!) my airfryer for the longest time, I have NEVER cooked a whole chicken in it before. (I use the normal size 1st generation 9220 Philips Airfryer if you wish to know.)

I always roast chicken using the oven because although it take a long time (at least an hour even for spring chickens), it is quite idiot proof and I don’t have to worry about it burning/turning out uncooked/unedible because I cook it in there ALL THE TIME. Old habits die hard, I guess, and I am resistant to change in this sense (or am just lazy to figure out another way, really). “Why take chance?” I say to myself each time <-- this isn't really me too. I don't know who's taking over my keyboard. There's also supposed to be a full stop there after "time" and I just don't feel like placing it there today. Maybe I just feel like rebelling against my day job as an editor. I'm gonna write run-ons and make no sense at all in all my other writing. Like now. (p/s- any spelling and punctuation mistakes you see in this post are uh, totally intentional.) I "don't usually" break rules as you can tell, or if you know me well.

So why airfry the chicken this time, then? I wouldn’t have, if not for the fact that the oven was in use FOR A GREATER GOOD at around dinner time. I was baking a glorious chocolate chip butter pound cake to satisfy my own cravings.

You see, for (really, really) unfortunate #swaymax reasons, I have been grounded the past week. I cannot go to the office (but still have to work from home thank you very much). I cannot go out. I cannot go ANYWHERE. AND I WANTED TO EAT CAKE. My cake withdrawal symptoms were so severe, I told the girls I reallyyyy HAD TO EAT CAKE at 5.30pm and started baking at 5.32pm, never mind that it was almost dinner time. To achieve your goals, they say, you have to take chances. Go all out. Oh and here’s the cake by the way.

The baking wasn’t about to be done until 6.55pm. I couldn’t afford another hour from 6.55pm for the roast chicken to cook in the oven. I did the next logical thing. Airfry the bugger. I was hesitant. I mean, I had my chocolate chip butter pound cake, but Ah-mm and 88 and the husband needed to eat right? And my loyal airfryer has never failed me before.

And was I glad I took the plunge. The spring chicken cooked beautifully in the airfryer. The skin, the CRISPIEST it’s EVER turned out. The meat, moist and juicy and tear-apart tender. The cooking time was shortened by half. There is no way I will cook spring chicken any other way again.

The marinade is really simple. Just rub some salt, oyster sauce (I know, I know, but I like the savoury-ness and colour oyster sauce it lends to roast chicken), rosemary and black pepper all over the chicken. The cooking part is even more simple. Airfry for 30 minutes at 180C. And that’s it. I turned it over midway through the cooking time and grilled some bell peppers along with it. I also had some leftover gravy from lunch that I prepared for another dish (HAKKA YTF, if you have to know) which I now added some rosemary to (I’m brilliant), and it went perfectly with the chicken. You can totally leave out the gravy part if you want. More on the Hakka YTF gravy. It’s not as crazy as it seems. I ran out of tau cheo (fermented bean paste) so I left it out, so the gravy was legit enough to be transformed from Chinese-style to “Western”, with a sprinkle of rosemary and a longer cooking time. I let it cook for a bit more over the stove top so that it’ll reduce and the flavour will be more compacted.

Sorry I don’t have better pictures as the sun was setting and the lighting was terrible. I also don’t have proper lighting equipment for photo taking at dinner time. But I am sure I’ll make this again in broad daylight, maybe over the weekend. So I can have nice pictures to update.

In the meantime, make this airfried chicken! The airfryer rocks. PHEW! That was a long post. I guess I just love story telling!

The post Airfried Rosemary Spring Chicken appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

When I need ideas on what to cook, I do three things: 1) open my freezer and see what existing protein I have, 2) check my vegetable chiller to see what kind of vegetables are available and 3) combine protein and vegetable to make a meal. Do you do the same? Oh, and if I do 1) and see I have no protein, it’s PASTA NIGHT! *dances*

I remember when I just started cooking years ago, I would decide on a dish to make and then go right out and buy ALL the ingredients for that recipe. Not only did I spend alot of money, I also wasted alot of ingredients due to lack of planning. I could buy a bag of potatoes for ONE dish and forget about it the entire week. And when it was time for another potato dish, I would realise that the potatoes have all sprouted.

The other night I was in luck. I 1) opened my freezer and saw a griller chicken; and 2) checked my vegetable chiller and saw carrots and celery. I also had potatoes from making my light and fluffy Japanese Potato Salad a day ago. And I always have onions in my pantry. That was it.. I was going to make roast chicken!

Roasting is one of my favourite ways to cook chicken. It is supremely easy and quite idiot proof. This time, instead of making a regular roast chicken with vegetables scattered around the sides, I was going to stuff it with the vegetables and garlic sausages.

This is the stuffing of potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, garlic and sausages with bay leaves and a sprinkle of rosemary and paprika:

There’s been some debate on whether a chicken should be roasted breast side up or down, or covered with foil or not. I don’t proclaim to know the “best” way to roast chicken and “best” is subjective anyway, but this is what I do: Roast it breast side DOWN covered with foil for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, remove foil, turn it breast side UP, and continue to roast for 20 minutes til skin is brown and crisp. This way, the toughest part of the chicken- the breast- gets all the juices from being roasted its side down before being given the crispy skin treatment. The timing is good for a 1.2kg griller and gives me moist, pull-off-the-bone meat every time. Try this, I hope you like it!

The post Roast Chicken with Garlic Sausage, Potato and Carrot Stuffing appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

This is my kind of comfort food.

Whenever the weather is a bit chilly, or when I am just feeling down, nothing else really gets my tummy and heart warmed up than rice and gravy. I was searching for something to do with chicken thighs, and I came across this Braised Herb Chicken with Shio Koji recipe on Just One Cookbook. Nothing that I’ve replicated from Nami’s website has disappointed my family, and I was sure this was going to be no different. But, what is Shio Koji and where can I find it?

Shio Koji is a fermented mixture of Japanese rice malt and sea salt. It looks like porridge and tastes a little salty with a mild sweetness, and is used to substitute salt in various dishes. In this recipe, Nami uses it as a marinade for chicken thighs. I have a good mind to use it on top of salmon before airfrying the next time! I like it, but the taste is so mild, I still added a bit of salt to the dish. I found mine at the chiller section of Sakuraya Fish Mart at West Coast Plaza for $5. Read more about shio koji here.

I tweaked the recipe a little because I ran out of white wine. I used mirin instead as I like my dishes sweet and savoury. I also thickened the gravy with cornstarch solution so that it is rich and thick, perfect for spooning over rice. Look at this picture that Jason took with his phone! The lighting is bad, but it looks so comforting and delicious:

I hope you try this out and wow your family!

This dish is pretty simple to make.. just use one frying pan throughout and layer the flavours on top of one another, adding as you go along. The yellow onions lend a very nice sweetness to the gravy and the rosemary is just a perfect match with chicken. I love chunky potatoes and carrots in my braised dishes. They’re magic together!

I wish I had more parsley.. I think you should add it! Be sure to serve this hot over warm and slightly softer rice. I guarantee you will enjoy this recipe this time, and on many, many other occasions to come!

(Recipe adapted from Just One Cookbook with slight changes.)

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