Do you love chips? Well, who doesn’t? Crispy, golden, warm and satisfying, they taste great sprinkled with some sea salt and dipped into ketchup (or my favourite condiment — mayo mixed with a bit of pesto and a dash of peri peri sauce). Trouble is, they are fattening and too many leads not just to an expanding waistline, but to blocked arteries.
So Philips has come up with the Airfryer to rescue us, allowing us to “fry” foods with air, not oil. Yes, air, which uses 80 per cent less fat than traditional frying.
It is essentially a super-powered mini-oven, using high heat to bake foods to achieve a result akin to frying. The Airfryer can be used not just for chips, but meat, vegetables and even frittatas and cakes.
I had the Airfryer XL, intended to meet the needs of Middle East families (a euphemism for bigger families, on the brink of obesity or diabetes). Despite being able to cook 50 per cent more than its predecessors, the XL’s basket is small and is really suited only for a small family of three, or four at a push, if you’re all on a diet.
To cook chips, the right potatoes are essential. Floury types like King Edward or Yukon Gold are perfect. They do need to be soaked for 30 minutes before frying though, which requires a further 25 minutes (and a dash of oil to stop it sticking together) – quite a compromise when deep fat frying takes four minutes. Philips recommends store-bought frozen chips, which are already fried once in oil. These take less time and taste better (fat is tasty) and the texture is crisper on the outside compared to the chips I made from scratch.
I found the best thing to make was chicken breast (marinated quickly in fresh coriander, mint, garlic, ginger and a teaspoon of olive oil). In just eight minutes the air fryer offered up the juiciest, most succulent bit of chicken I had tasted in a long time, maybe ever. It was so juicy that I thought it was undercooked, so I put it back for another four minutes of cooking. You will never look at chicken the same way again after the Airfryer.
The downsides to this miracle machine are several. It is unattractively big; it is also loud, like a windy version of a blender and with 25 minutes to cook chips, it is more of a mini-oven than a fryer. Otherwise it a great machine to have if you’re health-conscious but still want to enjoy “bad” foods.
q&a air beats oil with fried foods
Roy Jakobs, the chief executive of Philips Electronics Middle East & Turkey, reveals more about the Airfryer’s appeal.
How popular is the Airfryer among consumers in the Middle East?
It is a huge success. This region has one of the best uptakes in the world for the Airfryer. The population loves it here [in the UAE], because in the Arabic kitchen there is a lot of fried food, but also a lot of the other cultures and nationalities are here.
How does the Airfryer fit into a healthy lifestyle?
If you like fries, great. And if you have an option to have fries cooked with air, as we do it, rather than fat it is 80 per cent healthier. In the Middle East there are quite a lot of health challenges. Obesity and diabetes in this region are two very big domains that need a lot of attention. The two biggest challenges that need support are cardiovascular diseases and oncology. Unfortunately cancer is a prevailing disease here and relatively late diagnosed so prevention is very important next to of course treatment and after-care.
How important is the Middle East region to Philips as a whole?
For us it is a growth market. At Philips, we don’t disclose specific numbers but we are part of the emerging markets which is growing at 15 per cent and the Middle East is growing faster than other emerging markets. After health care the second biggest opportunity for us is lighting, it is really taking off in the region. Lighting impacts healing and productivity. Before a treatment or scan you can help put people at ease and then help them in their room or at home to heal faster.
thamid@thenational.ae
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