Air Fried Zucchini エアーフライズッキニ

Since we had a great success air frying eggplants, my wife suggested we air fry some zucchini. I essentially cooked them exactly like the eggplants and as expected they were great. I started with 15 minutes of air frying. The zucchini was hot but still a bit too crunchy. I did another 15 minutes (Picture #1) which was good but now it was a bit too soft for me. Maybe, a total of 20 minutes would work better.

Ingredients:
3 zucchini cut into 1 inch thick medallions (This one was fairly long and made 15 rounds about 1 inch thick)
Seasoned flour (1/4 cup AP flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, the amount of seasonings is to your liking)
1/2 cup panko
2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs grated parmesan cheese (optional)
1 egg beaten plus several tbs water

Directions:
Add 1 tbs olive oil in a frying pan on medium flame. Add the panko and stir until the panko is lightly browned. Let it cool. Add remaining olive oil and the parmesan cheese to the browned panko and mix well. Set aside.
Place the seasoned flour in a gallon Ziploc bag with the zucchini. Shake to coat all the eggplant surface with the seasoned flour. Shake off excess flour and dip each zucchini coin in the egg water to coat all sides and then bread it with the panko mixture, pressing both sides firmly. Place in the air frying basket with space between them (picture #2).

Since I breaded chicken tenders just before I breading the zucchini, I ran out of the previously browned panko. So, I just quickly mixed the panko and olive oil together without browning it in a frying pan like I did with the previous batch.  I used this “instant” breading on the remaining half of the zucchini shown as the pale ones on the left in the picture.

When, the zucchini finished cooking both the previously browned (right two) and “instant” un-browned (left two) panko breaded zucchini browned nicely (picture #3). The main difference was that the un-browned panko side developed uneven dark spots which I suspect must have been due to an uneven oil distribution. In addition, some oil dripped down onto the bottom crumb tray which did not happen when using previously browned panko. So, it appears the oil in the panko needs to be absorbed evenly and pre-sautéing in oil appears to work better.

Air Fried Chicken Tender Cutlets エアーフライ鳥のささみカツレツ

Recently we have been trying out the air fryer function on our new toaster oven. This time, we tried chicken tender cutlets. Our favorite way of cooking these is to marinate them in mirin and ponzu, breading and deep frying them. This creates a nice flavorful and moist meat with a crunchy crust. So, this time our goal was to see if we could recreate the same flavor and texture profile of the oil fried tender using the air fryer. I changed the marinade a bit by including mayonnaise which, I’m beginning to think, is key for getting a good air frying result. Besides tenderizing the meat, the thin layer of mayo on the surface adds an oil component without being greasy as when the chicken is oil fried. In addition, I used panko crumbs sautéed and browned in olive oil. The air fried chicken tenders were a great success. The meat was very flavorful, extra tender and moist with a nice crunchy crust and no oiliness. We would even go so far as to say we like the air-fried version better than deep dried! We served this with home-made Greek (strained) yogurt dip seasoned with olive oil and salt (picture #1).

The idea of using mayo in the marinade is something I picked up from cooking blogs I follow (in Japanese).

Ingredients:
x6 chicken tenders

For marinade
2 tbs mayonnaise
2 tsp miso
1 tsp soy sauce (I used x4 Japanese noodle sauce)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp grated garlic

For dredging
1/2 cup panko
2 tbs light olive oil
2 tbs grated parmesan cheese (optional0

Directions:
Mix the marinade and place it in a large enough Ziploc bag. Add the tenders (removing the tendon attached to one end) and massage to coat. Removed air as much as you can and let it marinade for few hours or over night in the refrigerator.

Add the olive oil in a frying pan on medium low flame. When oil is hot add the panko and stir and toss until oil is distributed and lightly browned for few minutes. Let it cool and if using add the grated parmesan cheese.

Take out the tenders from the marinade and dredge in the browned panko bread crumbs (see picture #2).

Air fry at 450F for 10 minutes and turn them over and cook a 5 more minutes (total of 15 minutes)

I think the secret to good air frying appears to be adding a bit of oily components on the surface of the item being cooked.

1. Thin layer of mayo on the surface. It adds thin oily layer and the breading (panko) easily adheres to it.
2. Panko crumbs sautéed and browned with olive oil*. It adds  nice brown color as well as absorbs oil without dripping while air frying.

*When we air fried zucchini (subject to another post) I tried panko crumbs mix with olive oil just before breading (since I ran out of sautéed and browned panko), this did not work as well. The oil did not absorb and distribute evenly. Although the panko browned but not evenly and some oil dripped down on to the bottom of the toaster oven.

Air Fried Eggplant エアーフライ茄子

This is another example of us playing with our new toy; the air frier. This time the object of the fun is eggplant. I used “Japanese” eggplant; the light purple, long in length variety not the classic Japanese eggplant. Even though it is not the traditional Japanese eggplant variety, we like it better than the regular American variety. This turned out to be a great dish. It is better than the deep fried version since it is not cooked in oil so the eggplant does not absorb a lot of oil. (The only oil the eggplant comes in contact with is the small amount used to crisp up the panko coating.) The crust was light and crunchy and the eggplant itself was fairly soft but not oily at all. The air fried eggplant was a great success. The surface of the eggplant was crunchy and the center was soft and hot. Since the eggplant did not absorb a lot of oil, it was much lighter. I served it with air fried chicken.  The combination of air fried chicken wings and eggplant was a perfect dish (picture #1). I did not use any particular recipe but followed my instincts particularly on how to prepared the panko bread crumbs before breading the eggplant.

This is not a recipe per se but just a note to myself so that I can reproduce it.

Ingredients:
1 Japanese eggplant cut into 1 inch thick medallions (This one was fairly long and made 10 rounds about 1 inch thick)
Seasoned flour (1/4 cup AP flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, the amount of seasonings is to your liking)
1/2 cup panko
2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs grated parmesan cheese
1 egg beaten plus several tbs water

Directions:
Add 1 tbs olive oil in a frying pan on medium flame. Add the panko and stir until the panko is lightly browned. Let it cool. Add remaining olive oil and the parmesan cheese to the browned panko and mix well. Set aside.

Place the seasoned flour in a gallon Ziploc bag with the eggplant. Shake to coat all the eggplant surface with the seasoned flour. Shake off excess flour and dip each eggplant coin in the egg water to coat all sides and then bread it with the panko mixture, pressing both sides firmly. Place in the air frying basket with space between them (picture #2).

Air fry at 450F for 10-15 minutes. The panko breading further darkens to a nice golden brown (picture #3). No need to turn it over during the cooking.

This is the best way to prepare this style of eggplant. Not only does it taste like perfectly fried eggplant (sans the oil) but the left overs crisp up very nicely when re-air-fried for a few minutes.

Air Fried Chicken Wings エアーフライ手羽

This is another air frier episode. When we recently made the “teba gyoza 手羽餃子” variation with leftovers from the meatloaf my wife made, the skin browned unevenly. We wanted to try it again to see if we could make the browning of the skin on the wings more even. The package of chicken wings we got was labeled “cut pieces” and “contained both flats and drumettes”. We wrongly assumed the “flats” and “drumettes” were connected with only the wing tips cut off. But it turned out the flat and drumette pieces were cut apart. This makes stuffing the chicken wings unfeasible. In order to stuff the drumettes, it is necessary for the flats and drumettes to be connected because if they are cut apart both ends of the drumette are open and the stuffing will come out.  So, I just made unstuffed air fried chicken wings. I suppose I could have just air fried them but I decided to marinate them in a mixture of mayonnaise, ponzu shoyu and yuzu kosho which, somehow, came to my mind. I’ve used this combination, before as a dressing for “renkon” lotus root salad but this time, I used the concoction as a marinade. The marinade made the chicken meat very moist and tender. The surface layer of mayonnaise made the skin brown as if the wings were fried in oil (picture #1). The yuzu kosho added a slight spiciness and citrus flavor. As you can see both sections browned evenly. So we declare this an unqualified success, both because it browned evenly and tasted great!

Ingredients:

Chicken drumetts and flats (in our package, 4 each were included)

3 tbs mayonnaise

1 tbs ponzu soy sauce

1/2 tsp or more yuzu kosho

Directions:

In a Ziploc bag, add the chicken wings and the marinade ingredients. Massage well so that the marinade is well mixed and chicken parts are well coated. Remove the air as much as possible and close the bag. Let it marinade a few hours in the refrigerator.

I arranged the wings in the roasting pan that had a metal grate. I made sure the chicken parts were well spaced (picture #2). I air fried them at 450 F for 15 minutes. I then turned them over and cooked for another 5 minutes.

This was a great finger food. They went fast. We started with 2 pieces each but ended up eating everything.

Air Fried stuffed Chicken Wings エアーフライ手羽餃子

“Teba Gyoza 手羽餃子” is a quintessential Izakaya dish. “Teba” means “chicken wing” and “gyoza” means dumpling stuffed with vegetables and meat usually ground pork. This dish is a hybrid of grilled chicken wing (“yakitori” 焼き鳥) and gyoza. The bone (humerus) of the chicken wing drumette is removed leaving the skin intact. The resulting cavity is filled with gyoza stuffing. It is then grilled like any other “Yakitori”. Hence the combination of teba-yakitori and gyoza. It is reputed to have been invented by an izakaya in Hakata 博多, Fukuoka 福岡. Some years ago, I often made teba gyoza several different ways including cooked in the Weber grill and baked in the toaster oven.  We used to frequently make chicken wings because they were inexpensive and a fun way to eat chicken. Then, for a while they became very expensive and we got out of the habit of using chicken wings to make yakitori or “teba gyoza”.

We decided to make stuffed chicken wings again because our old toaster oven was not working well and we got a new one with an air fryer function. We thought one of the items we would like try was our old time favorite of chicken wings. I thought about making “teba gyoza” using gyoza stuffing but since my wife recently made a meat loaf I decided to stuff the wings with left over meatloaf instead of making gyoza stuffing, This was a qualified success. It was qualified because although the skin crisped up better than when the wings are just baked in a regular oven they browned unevenly.  Since the drumette part of the wing with the stuffing in it was thicker it was positioned closer to the heating element and got much darker than the rest of the wing. Although we used left over meat loaf  instead of the traditional gyoza stuffing it was still quite good. I served this with air-fried rounds of eggplant (subject of a future post) and sautéed oyster mushrooms (#1).

This a cross section view of the drumette showing the meat stuffing (picture #2). As mentioned, the skin over the drumette got a bit too high done (backened).

This shows the overall appearance of chicken wings (picture #3). Next time, I can remove the wing tips to make the stuffed part of the chicken wings lie a bit more evenly/flat to prevent uneven browning of the skin.

Ingredients:
Any number of chicken wings
meat filling either gyoza or meatloaf

Directions:
Remove the bone from the drumette leaving the skin intact. Stuff with the meat stuffing and close with a toothpick. (I did not add any oil or spices to the wings because they already have a large amount of natural fat to baste the meat while cooking.)

Cook in the air frier at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn over and cook an additional 5 minutes.

These were again the fun way to eat chicken. The skin was crispy. The meat was juicy and tender. The added stuffing, in this case the meatloaf, was very flavorful. Although the stuffed portion got a bit high done it was still very good. We will be bringing this old favorite back onto the menu.