Cooking an Entire Western Meal in an Airfryer

Since embarking on a restrictive diet about 11 months ago, I've been doing a lot more cooking at home and a lot less eating outside...and that's a given since doing one's own cooking would mean we control what we cook and what seasonings we put in.

To control sugar means we have to control our carbs...so, what's the best dish to make if we want to omit rice or noodles?  A western meal, of course...and a western meal of roast chicken is the easiest protein to cook and nail successfully...not to mention it's also the cheapest! ^_~

Before I started on my restrictive diet, my initial reason for getting an air fryer was solely for the purpose of making snacks and small portions of food.  Oh well, the days of eating fries (or fried processed food) are obviously over!  But I've since put my air fryer to good use...and it's now the most used gadget in my kitchen.

I make roast chicken regularly...in fact, I cook an entire western meal these days in my small air fryer since this kind of meal is very agreeable with my way of eating now (to reduce carbs and cut sugar).  My favourite thing to roast is chicken wings coz they take no time to cook...only about 10 - 12 minutes at 200°C (turning once at the halfway mark or twice for a more even browning).

If you're roasting whole chicken wings, you may need a longer roasting time.  I get my chicken wings cut at the joints and discard the wing tips (makes for easier eating).  It's not easy to get just the mid wings (my favourite section) unless you buy them from a supermarket (even then I can't find it at the Aeon near me).  I used to buy many different bottles of seasoning like garlic, onion, paprika, chilli flakes, cayenne pepper, etc. but find it rather wasteful when they expire without being fully utilised.  Nowadays, I rely on just one bottle of McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning (that PhongHongBakes recommended) which has a bit of everything together with some additional salt, black pepper and soy sauce...and the result tastes really good).

From time to time, I would also do a roasted (deboned) chicken leg.  This will take longer, about 12 - 15 minutes.  I cook it skin side up for 5 minutes, then flip and cook the underside for another 5 minutes.  I turned it skin side up one final time and cooked it for a further 5 minutes.

The only difference I make when cooking a chicken leg is that I put it on a rack inside the air fryer.  This is to allow the oil to drip down onto the paper liner below.  Propping the chicken leg on a rack also allows better air circulation and browning (since it's a thicker cut of meat).

Of course I can't just have the chicken alone...there must be sides (at least 2 sides lah) to accompany the main protein.  The most common (and well received) side would be potatoes (yes, must have a little carbs).

I've had it with all kinds of potatoes...the most common being the regular white potatoes I often get from the market (like Yukon Gold or Russet...I prefer Yukon Gold).  I roast them in the air fryer for about 15 - 18 minutes at 200°C depending how charred you like your potatoes.

I've had it with Japanese sweet potatoes.  These are the ones where the skin is reddish/purplish and the inside flesh is yellow.  They're ridiculously good in the form of kushiyaki in Japanese restaurants. Occasionally, I steam or boil them (which is an even healthier choice).  I steam them (whole) for at least 30 minutes but if you like it extra soft until you can scoop the flesh with a spoon, you'll need to steam it for longer.

Besides Japanese sweet potatoes, there's also the more common orange (or purple-coloured) sweet potatoes.  You roast them the same way as any potatoes although I find the texture a little bit harder than the regular potatoes when roasted for the same time but they taste better definitely.

I've not had honey sweet potatoes before and got some to try when I saw them being sold on Shopee.  Their flesh is whiter and when you press them, you get this little bit of sticky liquid oozing out.  These honey potatoes cook a little faster (only needs 12 - 15 minutes) and they taste really good.

Although roasting potatoes in the air fryer directly is the simplest and least time consuming method, I found that the roasted potatoes can be a little dry and not as fluffy.  So now I take the time to do an extra step (coz it's worth it) by steaming it first (you can also boil them) for about 10 - 15 minutes until soft.  Make sure you drain out any water (collected at the bottom of the plate) before tossing them with olive oil, salt and black pepper.

The tossing will fluff up the sides of the potato wedges and this will make them extra crispy around the edges.  The result of the steaming (or boiling) to soften them will turn the potatoes really fluffy on the inside.  This is now my default way of making roast potatoes (similar to what I first learned from Jamie Oliver except I steam them instead of boilng).

With potatoes making up one side, the other obvious side would be vegetables...and you've a great variety to choose from...starting with broccoli (which happens to be my son's most favoured roasted vegetable).  It takes about 8 - 10 minutes depending how charred and soft you want your broccoli (and my son likes it well charred).

My favourite is not broccoli (I find them a little dry especially the frizzy tops) but capsicum instead as they turn out really soft and juicy after roasting and charring.  They also cook very fast, you need just about 5 - 8 minutes.  I've cooked all 3 colours of capsicum (red, green & yellow) and find that red is the tastiest as they become sweeter when roasted compared to the other two + they're incredibly juicy and even ooze out a little chilli oil if you will.

Recently, I tried roasting green beans too.  They cook super fast, only need about 5 minutes to wilt and char (you can add 1 - 2 more minutes if you need extra charring and softness).  I now even cook them this way when I want to stir-fry french beans with minced meat coz they char a lot faster this way than the conventional way over a wok or pan.

Due to the fast cooking and encouraging results of the earlier green beans, I've also started to cook my eggplant this way (only takes about 10 minutes) since it softens much quicker and uses a lot less oil than the conventional pan-frying method.  Even when I fry it in a non-stick pan, the eggplant dries out and I keep having to add a little bit more oil + it takes forever for them to soften.  And no, this eggplant is not for my western meal...lol.

I once supplemented the vegetable component with sweet white corn, a vegetable that requires no cooking! Even better...and was pleased to know my blood sugar reading was alright after eating it (I had 1/2 a corn). If vegetables aren't available (more like when I'm too lazy to cook them), I sometimes substitute with fruits that aren't too sweet like guava, rose apple (jambu air) and mandarins.

I now use my air fryer more frequently than I do my convection oven as it can cook food efficiently and much quicker too...even though the capacity is small and I've to cook it in a few rounds (I also enjoy the perk of no washing up to do).  So, what are the 3 things I cook most often in my air fryer, you ask?  Well, it's definitely chicken, potatoes and vegetables! ;)  I even cooked a batch of roast chicken wings (for potluck) using my air fryer.

Since a western meal of chicken, potatoes and vegetables is agreeable with my way of eating less carbs, I cook and eat this regularly.  Even though I may include some carbs in my western meal in the form of potatoes (and the occasional bread), I find that my blood sugar readings are fine if I keep to one potato or a small bun (I try lah....kekeke).  The reading tends to be a little lower with sweet potatoes compared to regular white potatoes...but you will still need to control your portions! >_<

Twins Signature Roast Duck @ Damansara Uptown

This place is a favourite (and very regular) haunt of one of my blogger friends whenever she needs to satisfy her carnivorous craving for roast duck.  Needless to say, she's pretty well known there...who wouldn't be when your regular order is half a duck (or sometimes a whole duck)...lol!  Another blogger friend has also tried the roast duck here (with a different outcome), so it was inevitable that I had to see for myself what Twins Signature Roast Duck @ Damansara Uptown was all about.

When I told my husband about the place, he asked, "Is it that place that's always empty when I pass by?" (he frequents PJ & Damansara areas quite a bit in his work).  That statement led me to think...hmmm, that can't bode well for the place (but I'll reserve my judgement for later).  We reached there just before 10am (on a Sunday morning after church service) to find the shop empty with no customers at all (by the way, the shop opens at 9am on Sundays and 10am on other days).  That made me second-guess if they were indeed ready to serve customers, so I checked before seating down.

I got down to ordering and thought I'd get the Triple Combo BBQ Meat @ RM46.80 so that I could taste all 3 types of meat in one go (it's the obvious thing to do after coming here all the way, right?).  

Let's start with their signature meat which is their roast duck, of course.  The meat of the roast duck was tender and moist and I liked that it wasn't overpowered by herbs and spices but there was no crispy skin though.  Reading Google reviews, there were those that showered compliments on the crispy skin while some weren't as fortunate to get crispy skin (even PH mentioned she got crispy skin in a recent visit).  So, I guess it's a case of inconsistency (and your luck) whether you get crispy skin or not! >_<  Inconsistency is something a shop should try to eliminate if they want new customers to visit again and regulars to continue to patronise.

I actually noticed 2 ducks hanging as I was walking in.  I even had to ask the lady boss (there were two of them) if they had siu yuk and char siew since I didn't see it at the shop front.  She assured me that those meats are ready and available in the kitchen.  Seeing that I was pretty much their first customer (since we were the only ones there), surely those two ducks were freshly made to start off their day...so how did it not have crispy skin, I don't know. >.<  

As for the siu yuk, the initial outlook was good, the cut was nice and short...the looks that I like.  It came with crispy skin with the ratio of meat a good balance between lean and fatty.  It could do with a bit more savouriness though but overall still a very decent siu yuk.

The savoury-sweet char siew wasn't quite at the standard of some of the excellent char siew we had.  Even though it had a good ratio of fat to lean, it wasn't quite the luscious melt-in-the-mouth bite that we were looking for which is the hallmark of a good char siew.

Of the three roasted meats we tried, I thought the siu yuk was the most successful of the three with the roast duck coming in second and char siew in last place.  My husband loves to eat siu yuk the most while my son is a big fan of char siew but, unfortunately, both these did not seem to meet their expected standards.

The meat combo came served with a dark sauce on the side...I wasn't quite sure if it was for the char siew or duck...lol!  Either way it wasn't of crucial importance since I wasn't liking the taste of the sauce all that much anyway.  It was neither here nor there...not quite the sweetish char siew sauce nor the type of sauce normally served with roast duck that we've come to know.

We got some artery-clogging Pork Lard Rice @ RM7 (how to resist when you see pork lard rice on the menu, right?).  The bowl arrived with freshly fried, crispy pork lard cubes sprinkled on top.  Why do I say it's freshly fried...coz we waited quite a while for it.  When it appeared, the looks of it immediately told me that the pork lard crisps have not been fried long enough (good pork lard has to be fried slowly till well browned and crispy).  This was just crispy...that's it, it wasn't fragrant nor had any flavour.  

My regular pork noodles stall has one of the best pork lard I've eaten, super fragrant and lightly savoury (some would even add aromatics into the oil to impart more flavour into the pork crisps).  Not only that but the rice was also too oily. I know one should expect oily rice if one orders pork lard rice but it turned out oilier than we expected (it was rather oily when we got to the bottom of the bowl).  This pork lard rice was a letdown, so skip this as the calories is not worth it! >_<

Even the normal Chinese Oil Rice @ RM4 was a little oilier than expected.  The flavour was ok, not outstanding but nothing to complain about either.  My only grouse was that it could have been served a bit warmer (not sure why the rice was barely lukewarm since it was just the start of the day).  When the rice was served, the server came with a tray filled with condiments/sauces of pickled green chillies, fresh chilli dip (on the spicier side) and a (cooked) sambal.  I took the latter two (and not the pickled green chillies) since I was not having noodles.  Both the chilli dips were alright except that the sambal seemed a bit of an odd pairing with roasted meats.

I ordered a plate of greens to go with our meaty meal of Stir-Fried String Beans with Minced Pork @ RM15.80 and it was expertly executed.  Other than the disappointment with the small serving size, the french beans were well wiltered, charred and soft and the minced pork was tasty.

It reminded me of a similarly popular dish in Esquire Kitchen which is still my gold standard when it comes to this dish.

Of course I had to end my meal with an order of Kopi-C Kosong (Cold) @ RM3.50 that my blogger friend has raved about countless times.  I've not had a cup of coffee for 6 months and decided to break my coffee fast with the one here.  It better be worth it, I said to myself! :D  Luckily, it was.  Perhaps, I can consider having kopi-c kosong once in a while (since it uses unsweetened evaporated milk, not as damaging as sugar since I find it difficult to drink kopi-o kosong without sugar, can only take it less sweet).  I say this with some conviction since my glucose reading was encouragingly within acceptableble range...even with a glass of coffee! ^_*

My Personal Opinion

I'm glad I finally came to try this roast duck that PH enjoys so much though my experience wasn't quite on a similar note as hers.  In the end, though their roast duck is the signature meat here (and it was certainly decent), I thought their siu yuk fared better.  But having said that, there's definitely better duck, siu yuk and char siew to be found elsewhere (and nearer to me).

Though prices of the roast duck seem fair (since duck is known to be expensive), I thought they were a little bit steeper based on the small portion size.  The food we ordered for the three of us (which cost more than RM80 for a simple meal of roasted meat rice) was clearly not enough to satisfy us.  My family didn't seem to enjoy the food as much as they were noticeably quiet throughout the meal...lol.

I guess when you come on a Sunday morning to find the place empty (including my husband's statement of "you mean the place that's always empty when I pass by") may be subtle clues that the food isn't quite on a stellar level (or maybe the steep prices played a part), otherwise flies will descend (good food places are always crowded no matter what time of the day...lol).  Not all is lost though as I did enjoy the coffee! ;)

I read that this place is run by twins (hence the name?) and they were formerly from the now-closed London Duck in Gurney Drive, Penang and an offshoot of Village Roast Duck in Bangsar (unconfirmed), the latter of which has a much higher Google rating (incidentally, their food photos do look a lot more tempting, especially the roasted meats, even the wantan mee, + I noticed that their roast duck is served with a sauce underneath unlike here)! @_@

Twins Signature Roast Duck

25G Jalan SS21/1A

Damansara Utama

47400 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Tel: 016-716 3613

New Soon Soon Lai @ Taman Shamelin Perkasa

I was first alerted to this coffee shop, New Soon Soon Lai @ Taman Shamelin Perkasa, when we drove past and noticed the banner promoting Uncle Soon Fried Rice.  I've first heard about the ever popular Uncle Soon's Fried Rice presence in many coffee shops (mostly in PJ) since they were in Subang Square but most of their stalls are located far away from me...and it's not likely that I'd go all the way somewhere far just to eat a plate of fried rice.

So I was pretty pleased ecstatic to find that Uncle Soon (not sure if the name has anything to do with the shop's name) has finally opened a stall near me.  I now have the opportunity to try this much talked about fried rice.  They do a few varieties of fried rice and you can choose whether you want it with char siew, prawns, squid, la la or the simplest version with just egg (prices range from RM8 - RM12 depending on the protein you choose).

My first pick was the Fried Rice with Char Siew simply because it's my favourite "form" of fried rice as char siew provides a more fragrant, savoury note to the fried rice (even better than lap cheong can in my opinion)...and this one definitely did not disappoint.  The first thing that hit me when the plate of fried rice landed on the table was that I could actually smell the wok hei...and that is the very thing a good plate of fried rice needs.  Some have even compared this to Uncle Roger's fried rice...lol.  Since I've not tried Uncle Roger's (high-priced) fried rice (not sure if I want to try such a gimmicky fried rice), I reserve my judgement.

The Fried Rice with Squid featured tiny baby squids used in the fried rice and not a sizeable piece of sotong cut into smaller pieces like the ones we'd often eat.  As squid is usually bland (and these were probably the frozen kind) it didn't offer much taste to the fried rice.  Still, if I want a seafood option, I'd choose squid over prawns or la la.

Then, there's also the option of prawns or la la (of course, both will not add much taste to the fried rice with smallish morsels of prawn and la la or, you can get it in its most basic form, with just egg).  The rice is fried with nicely separated grains even though I witnessed them cooking a fresh pot of rice and scooping it into a tong during one of dine-in meals there.  So who says fried rice can only be cooked well with overnight rice...lol.

If there's one thing that's common in all plates of fried rice is the fried egg (with oozy egg yolk most of the time) which comes as default.  You'll also find a drizzle of sauce over the egg that's not just plain soy sauce (it has a slightly thicker consistency so I'm thinking it's possibly a housemade concoction of thick and thin soy mixed with a bit of oil or maybe it's kicap manis).  Do take note that this brand of fried rice will not be similarly executed in terms of wok hei and taste in all its branches as the fryers are obviously different.

The black char siew rice (from the Brother Fatty Black Char Siew stall) that my son enjoyed is another popular choice here.  It's obviously called black char siew for a reason judging from the well caramelised, almost blackened exterior.  So, I got into the action too and got myself the black char siew with roast chicken combo.

Good portions though the thick-cut char siew I got weren't as caramelised but still tender, just not melt-in-the-mouth tender.  It didn't taste as sweet probably because it was mixed with the roast chicken's soy sauce underneath.  Overall, just an edible char siew and chicken rice.  They're very popular for their sand ginger chicken rice (which came highly recommended) but I don't like sand ginger (I'll tell you why in another post).

The Fish Ball Noodles was recommended by the same person who recommended me the sand ginger chicken rice...and being a lover of fish ball mee, I had to try of course.  I had the soup version first and found the soup base a tad too light and it also wasn't quite the fish ball mee I was expecting.  This one didn't have any fish cake slices or flying saucers (aka fish skin wantans), somethings I would have preferred in my bowl of fish ball noodles.

Then the person who recommended it to me say I should have gotten the dry version (and specifically with lai fun)...and so I did on my next visit.  The dry noodles came topped with minced pork for a lot more flavour.

The thing I did enjoy though with my earlier bowl of fish ball mee were the fish balls themselves.  From the oddly shapped fish balls, it's obvious they're housemade (probably even handmade) fish balls.  They're denser with a more chewy bite and not the overly bouncy type of commercially produced fish balls.  While my allegiance lies elsewhere, I still consider this a darn good bowl of fish ball noodles because of the fish balls.

I also found the same Kai See (Prawn & Shredded Chicken) Hor Fun (the same brand that's found in many coffee shops everywhere in Klang Valley).  It even made it all the way to the city of kai see hor fun, Ipoh...lol.  The one here tasted much better (in terms of the flavour of the soup) than the one in my taman in Thong Kee.  So, even though it's the same brand, not all will taste the same just like Uncle Soon Fried Rice.

When a stall advertises its curry mee as Mom-in-Law Curry Mee (or Mom's curry mee), it always gives me the impression that it has to be something good since it's cooked by the generation before me..lol.  My late mother-in-law is actually very good at making a good curry.  I can remember how special her salted fish and pineapple curry was.  This curry mee, unfortunately, was a disappointment as it failed big time as the curry was just too thin and too light-flavoured.

When this Aglio Olio Spaghetti arrived, served with two minced pork patties (moo ping lookalikes), we were wondering where the heck is the chilli flakes....but take a bite and it had the most heat my son has tasted in an aglio olio.  They must have used cili padi in the mix (lol...Malaysianised aglio olio for our palette).

Whenever I see Prawn Mee offered in coffee shops, I'm always tempted to order as they're in short supply.  The reason is probably the work involved in peeling prawns and making the prawn stock.  This stall is run by two elderly ladies (I don't see any foreign helper) and I thought the prawn broth was pretty decent.  The prawns given (there were 4) were also sizeable though the texture was a bit too soft...not mushy as in not fresh but soft as in overcooked/overboiled I think.  The other negative would be the fried onions which are store-bought.

Another popular stall here is the Pork Noodles which certainly was of satisfactory standard.  I had yee mee with an extra add-on egg that was cooked perfectly with a runny yolk that was intact which I can scoop into a spoon and into my mouth.  I don't like the yolk pecah and interfering with the integrity of the broth...hehe.

My son has also tried the Char Kway Teow which he found very forgettable (you can pretty much guess from the looks already).  Haiya, no lap cheong in the mix (heck I can't even see the cockles) means it won't tickle my tastebuds.

I also found Steve's Nasi Lemak that has relocated here from my neighbourhood coffee shop.  This is a Chinese-style nasi lemak but their sambal is good.  I was disappointed to find them gone from my taman but luckily we got reunited here.  I was overly greedy (for not having it for a while) and got two proteins, their popular wild boar curry and sotong sambal (it was too much and the sotong sambal not quite up to standard).  It also comes with curried potatoes and a dry hai mai (dried prawns) sambal (both was good and spicy).

I found myself enjoying the Pan-Fried Dumplings too (not the most pretty looking I've to say) with a minced pork (and a bit of chives) filling that was accompanied by a rather spicy but pleasant tasting chilli/chilli oil/ginger dip.

There used to be a stall here selling Fried Carrot Cake which my son says it's one of the best he has eaten. The difference with this one is that instead of frying it in a square piece, they cut it up into cubes before frying.  This resulted in very crispy cubes of carrot cake.  I can see why my son loved this as he loves all things crispy.  I prefer it the usual way, in a much larger piece, so that the sides won't be overly crispy.  Still, I thought it was a good carrot cake (not sure why it closed) as the white carrot flavour was very distinct without too much flour in the mix.

My Personal Opinion

You can get decent food from this coffee shop which offers a variety of food at standard hawker affordable prices mostly in the range from RM9 - RM12 which makes it a desirable venue for all the office workers and housing residents in the vicinity.

Even though we find it jam-packed with people (especially during breakfast and lunch hours), competition is stiff due to the many choices available (some stalls have since shuttered) but the standouts for me (from what I've tasted so far) were definitely Uncle Soon's fried rice, fish ball noodles (the dry version) and kai see hor fun but the rest weren't too shabby either other than the char kway teow and curry mee.

This coffee shop has now become a regular haunt for us as we eat here frequently, at least once a week. There's something for everyone here...my husband goes for the kai see hor fun, my son likes the aglio olio spaghetti while I prefer the fish ball noodles.....but it goes without saying that we all unanimously enjoy Uncle Soon's fried rice! ^_~

Restoran New Soon Soon Lai 

18-20 Lorong 4/91

Taman Shamelin Perkasa

56100 Kuala Lumpur