My New Toy

Sunday's lunch was cooked using my new toy - the Ninja Foodi Air Grill (AG301) (check it out here). I was very attracted to this indoor grill because I love grilled meat.

Seeing that I am now on a meat based diet, an indoor grill would be perfect.

I was lucky and got this unit at RM990.00. My only complaint is the length of the power cord. It is too short.

Although I understand that the idea of a shorter cord is for safety, it has to be of a reasonable length (another 6 inches would have been perfect). With a shorter cord, the placement of your appliance may be restricted.

You need to find a location in your kitchen where the cord can reach the power socket. I prefer to put the unit on my dining table (that's where I used to place my air fryer) but had to put it on the kitchen cabinet counter instead. 

This is how it looks like "naked" without the outer basket and grill rack/air fryer basket. 

After the outer basket is inserted (left) that's how it looks like and on the right, you can see that I have lined the basket with foil.

After that, you can insert the grill rack (left) or air fryer basket (right). After my experience with my two earlier air fryers, I find that it is better not to line the air fryer basket.

Why? So that the air circulation around the food is optimized and the meat browns more evenly. Sure, washing up is easier if you line the basket. With this Ninja Foodi Air Grill, I line the outer basket instead to catch all the oil drippings.

There is a removable splatter guard to protect the heating element. It's a good feature but make no mistake, the heating element (and areas above it) will get oily (eventually). But not as bad as a conventional air fryer. You need to remove and wash the splatter guard after every use.

One of the things I dread when buying a new appliance is learning how to use it. Not only that, I have to figure out the appropriate temperature/time settings to cook my food.  Fortunately, usage of this air grill is quite straight forward.

I picked up two deboned chicken legs at Aeon and simply marinated the meat with light soy sauce, garlic powder and pepper. 

After selecting the grill function (I chose the medium setting) and setting the time, the unit will preheat the grill. To see the progress, just look at the bars on the display.

Once preheated, the unit will display "Add Food". After putting the chicken in and closing the hood, the unit will automatically start grilling. 

I added the chicken legs skin side down (there was a nice sizzle!) and flipped at half time. Since this is a test drive, I just eyeballed the time. See the grill marks?

At the end of cooking, I put some butter on the skin (for extra flavor) and lost the grill marks >.< But it doesn't matter. The browning is good.

I also grilled a steak after that (sorry no photo) and at the end of cooking, the fats and drippings were contained in the aluminum foil.

The steak was overcooked and was done medium well. I have to adjust the cooking time in my next attempt.

There was not much sticking to the grill plate (it is ceramic coated) and to wash, I just soaked it in the air fryer inner basket with dishwashing detergent and water. Cleaning is easy.

And yes, I also cleaned the splatter guard by soaking it in soapy water and later cleaning it with my regular sponge.

There is a grilling guide but I still had to make my own adjustment because the quantity and weight of the meat I was cooking is not the same as per the guide.

Suffice to say, the chicken had a very good grilled flavor (the steak too) and was tender and moist. The steak was a bit dry because I overcooked it. I will do better next time!

Oh ya, just in case anyone is wondering, there was hardly any smoke. So yes, I am very happy with my new toy!