Good food creates lasting memories. When cooking becomes fun, easy, and healthy, you never get bored of it. After all, the excitement to cook healthy food for your family keeps you going.
I bought my airfryer - Prestige PAF 3.0- 5 years ago for 3,400 rupees from a local appliance store. My first experiment was to bake pakoras in airfryer.
Knowing nuts about the functioning of an airfyer, I made the typical pakoda batter for making pakoras in air fryer.
That was a big FLOP.
I baked the pakoda tens of times that day and still the end result was an uncooked mess of potatoes and onions. OMG!! I still remember the excitement surrounding the new addition to my culinary lab and how it flopped in a jiffy.
But did that stop me?
I am not one who will lose hope and heart easily. The fire to experiment and succeed keeps me going.
Then I tried a cake the next day, a suji fruit cake, to be precise.
It was a BIG HIT. The cake in air fryer turned out to be full of flavors, though it took a lot of time to bake. Perhaps I did not know much about the functioning of an air fryer even then.
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| sooji cake eggless in airfryer |
But you learn with experiments. Nobody can teach you things that you can teach yourself.
Now let's come to the main question.
Are airfryers healthy?
Well, first, let's see how an airfryer functions. An airfryer uses hot air technology to cook food. As soon as you turn on an airfryer, the coil is heated immediately and the fan blows out hot air, circulating it in all directions to cook food. It means it cooks food really fast without any radiation waves.
An airfryer circulates hot air to fry, bake, or grill. I won't say without oil because nothing comes out perfect without oil in airfryer, apart from papad. So is an airfryer worth a shot to find a place on your kitchen counter?
My answer comes from my experience - A BIG YES! Here are the key benefits of air fryer in India, where we are so used to guilty indulgence in deep-fried foods. An air fryer helps cut down that overload of fat, giving you crispy layers of air-fried food, which may or may not be soft or chewy from inside.
Ask me, and I will say air frying benefits come with use and experience.
You learn as you go along.
You learn as you create airfryer recipes.
You learn as you experiment.
You learn from your failures.
You learn when you rectify those failures.
When it comes to airfrying foods, say veggies, you will learn with experience.
When you bake cookies, you learn with the experience of working with different flours and fats. Different flours bake differently. Different fats bake and cook differently in an airfryer.
How does an air fryer in India function?
An airfryer comes with two types of buttons - temperature and timing.
All you need to do is set the temperature and timing and then forget about it (especially if you learn about the functioning of your airfryer).
Remember, one air fryer might cook slowly compared with another, which might heat fairly quickly. So it is all about understanding the functioning of your appliance. Preheating an airfryer requires only 3-5 minutes compared to a convection, otg, or oven that must be preheated for at least 10 minutes before cooking, frying, or baking.
It is easy to clean and carry since it is lightweight.
What is the best air fryer for Indian food?
My vote will always be for Prestige PAF 3.0. There are more reasons than one to pick it as my top choice. It is the best airfryer for Indian cooking, indian desserts, and Indian sweets.
Mercuryimp.com is all about my experiements with air fryer indian sweets and vegetarian air fryer recipes.
If you have a sweet tooth, thenair fryer indian desserts won't disappoint you either.
My Experience of Baking Pakora in Air fryer
Onion potato pakoda baked
These results surely give me more reasons to love my airfryer!
But as far as non-veg is concerned, I have seen great results with fish fry in airfryer. It takes time for an airfryer to fry fish at 200 degrees celsius, but the fried fish uses no oil and is done in 30-40 minutes. I have also seen people getting excellent results with chicken and other non-veg. I do not eat non-veg so I have never tried it myself. One study shows that using herbs in your marination of non-veg can help reduce the acrylamide formation further in airfryers.
Your Airfryer Questions Answered
Q. How are halogen air fryers..is it any better than the normal airfryers?
Well, a halogen airfryer is nothing but an improved technology (form) of a halogen oven...research says it is like convection oven (though I did not do a lot of research)...so I would not go for it...our normal airfryers are better and relatively safer.
Q. Which one has a steel basket in the biggest size for big quantities?
I don't think any brand has this add on now..when I bought prestige, I got a steel one... But the model migt not be available now..you may look for bigger capacity airfryers.
Q. Is an air fryer healthy for baking?
Well, an airfryer is a countertop cooking appliance, which is easy to use. The functioning is simple as well. The appliance blows hot air that circulates around what's cooking. The use of hot air makes it function like a convection oven, which cooks food faster and makes it crispy (just like deep frying).
Someone complained that an airfryer heats up quickly, posing a high risk of burning food. Burned food turns carcinogenic. True. But my point is why heat food to such high temperatures that it burns?
Once you understand the functioning of your airfryer, frying food becomes a breeze and you will never end up burning what you eat. Fry at a lower temperature to retain most of the properties of your favorite foods.
So there is no point in raising fingers at an airfryer with regard to turning food carcinogenic.
If that is the case, then the deep-fried food is way harmful than airfried food.
How to make coconut flour or desiccated coconut in air fryer in India [Prestige airfryer]
How to make millets cake in air fryer [Indian recipe with jaggery]
How to make Bourbon biscuits in airfryer with millets without baking powder or soda
How to make bourbon biscuits with jaggery in air fryer
Benefits of airfryer
- the convenience of cooking, heating, baking, grilling, and frying
- easy, quick, and simple to cook
- energy efficient..it's a kind of convection in a safe little package, which takes a lesser amount of time for cooking (1200-1500 watts)
- safety - safe to use and touch
- health reasons- lesser amount of fat compared to deep-fried foods
What are the disadvantages of air fryer?
It's small capacity is the only drawback of an airfryer.
Is Air Fryer healthier than oven?
No, it is equivalent to an oven, but safer than a microwave that uses microwaves or electromagnetic radiation for heating purposes.
Is air fryer worth buying?
Absolutely!
What can you not cook in an air fryer?
You can cook almost everything in an airfryer.
What are the best air fryers for 2020?
Prestige is my favorite. Philips is good too.
Can you fry an egg in an air fryer?
Absolutely. But I have never tried doing so.
Can I cook sausages in an air fryer?
I do not know. I do not eat sausages.
What are the best frozen foods to cook in an air fryer?
Anything and everything.
air fryer health disadvantages
There are no health disadvantages as far as an airfryer is concerned.
No, there is no risk of air fryer radiation . In fact, the airfryer does not use radiation or waves for heating. It uses hot air instead, which heats food fast. No, air fryer doesn't cause cancer
Not, at all.
air fryer recipes
I have been using my airfryer for 3-4 years and posting recipes in airfryer. Do try out recipes from mercuryimp and Ravneet Bhalla channel.
air fryer price
My airfryer cost me 3,400 rs 3years back. I own Prestige PAF 3.0
Does air fryer use radiation?
No, airfryers use hot air.
Do air fryers cause cancer? What are airfryer health disadvantages? Are air fryers toxic ?
No, there is no risk of cancer until you indulge in guilty eating of foods with acrylamide. So, you do not find any air fryer cancer warning as a label.
Is it safe to put aluminum foil in Airfryer?
I advise not to use aluminum foil for cooking or heating purpose, although many people use foil in airfryer without burning.
What are the side effects of air fryer? Is Air Fryer safe for health? Is air fryer healthy?
Air-fried food is healthier than deep fried foods because of the use of less oil.
I read your article Amazing work guys keep it up. Your article is giving me so many information to cook yummy food and the quality of Best airfryer for home use.
ReplyDeleteI'll am waiting for your next article