I needed find a simple and easy alternative by which I could enjoy my favorite food without health worry or guilt. That is why, I invested in an air fryer. As I understand, given their popularity, their prices have come down quite a bit, but when I had purchased it, it was quite an expensive investment for a kitchen appliance that I intended to use only occasionally!!
Oh, all that we do to enjoy our favorite foods…
To be clear and precise, an air fryer does not really “deep fry” our food. Since, for food to be deep fried, it is essential that it is immersed in hot oil and cooked in that manner. This is not the case with an air fryer, and this is also the reason why it utilizes so less oil in cooking- making it a healthy way to “fry” our favorite foods!!
For e.g. let’s say, you want to make a pound of French fries. Then with an air fryer you put your cut potatoes (or whatever it is that you are trying to fry) in the food tray and then pour a tablespoon or so of regular cooking oil over the cut potatoes. Most of these machines come with an oil measuring spoon and they also provide some recipe ideas to get you started.
How they accomplish the same texture and taste of “deep frying” is by utilizing innovative technology that actually works on the same principle as your countertop convection oven.
Air fryer is a small kitchen top electric appliance with typically a heating filament and a fan that blows the hot air around the cooking chamber. This hot air is swirled in a circular manner, ensuring that all the surface of your food is coated with hot oil and as this happens in a slow manner, it ensures a truly crisp texture and an awesome taste!!
I was a skeptic, until I started using it to make French fries!! The best part is that we can easily add various innovative flavoring spice-mixes and try out unique tastes.
Check out my article on Masala French Fries for some ideas…
Yes, it is true that I do love the taste and texture of these air fried French fries and personally I feel that if I am going to use it for occasional indulgence then it should be fine.
Given I typically try to cook my food with Ayurvedic principles, the fact that this technique utilizes less oil, is good news from a kapha lowering-balancing perspective.
Though the fact that hot air is blowing thru oil, creating a fine spray of hot oil, which coats our food, I am not sure if there are enough independent studies (i.e. studies that are not funded by these air fryer making companies) that have been conducted to ensure that there are no long term repercussions on our cholesterol levels or general heart health by consuming oil which has been mechanically treated in this manner!! Hopefully not- since for now, an air fryer seems like a total God-send appliance for my French-fries loving taste buds!!
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Healthy Eating , Life Management and Wellness
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#airfryer #frenchfries #deepfriedfoods #lowercholesterol #hearthealth #cardiovascularhealth #healthyeating #LiveConsciously