kung-pao broccoli, cauliflower and tofu - Dash air fryer edition

I recently bought an air fryer. You may have seen it on TV, the one that promises "1 tbsp of oil, 75% healthier" cooking option. Given how much I like fried shrimps, this sounds like a dream come true minus all the oily mess. So I bought one, Amazon delivered, and I gave it a try this weekend by kung pao-ing everything I can think of. I'm not sure how much healthier this is than the traditional fryer, but it's hella delicious.  

I am not getting paid for product review so hello let's not get overly excited. Mine is made by Dash, TASTI-CRISP (there are so many out there), 2.6 Qt, or 2.46 liter to those of us not from the U, S, of A. A simple search you will find all kinds, colors, sizes, and functions. I went for a cheap little product, in mint color (it's a happy color, also goes with the color of my backsplash), and tiny (the epitome of city living, by miniature everything). For 2 people, it's enough I think? cute, right?

What you need:

- 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

- 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets

- 1 pack of firm tofu (420g), cubed

- 5 tbsp of oil (yes I know, a bit more than I thought)

- 2 tbsp of corn starch

- 1/4 cup of Italian bread crumb

- 2 tbsp of butter, non salted

- 1 tbsp Siracha and/or other hot sauce

- 1 tbsp of honey

- salt, pepper, garlic powder

Recipe:

- Toss either broccoli or cauliflower (or mixed) florets in 1 tbsp of oil, add 1 tbsp of corn starch and toss once again until coated.

- Pour the coated florets in the fryer container container in a single layer, 360F for 12-15 min. Check around 10 min just to make sure nothing is burning. Pour it out in a bowl. Toss the tofu squares in oil, I used Italian bread crumbs instead of starch, 360F for 12 min. 

- Melt butter, add hot sauce, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. (I didn't like the butter bit, but the recipe tells me this is the way to do it.. hot sauce and honey is good enough I think. Also, no butter means easily converted to vegan).

- Spoon some of the kungpao sauce on the florets, add salt, pepper, and garlic powder as needed. Proceed to eat with your hands.

- Out of the 3 things I fried, the broccoli was my fave! The florets were crispy, crunchy and so awesome. I think this recipe is definitely a keeper. This was actually so much food. It didn't feel like it because it was all veggies and soy, and we ate in such small batches, it didn't feel like much. Since neither me or the hubster had any patience to wait until everything's cooked, so we munched on the stuff as they were done. But in the end it was really quite a lot of food, all for the name of science experiments, eh?

Notes on the Dash TASTI-CRISP:

- This gadget comes with a recipe book. There are a handful of things like fries, onion rings, and kungpao broccoli but I'm sure you can look up more. You can even try and invent your own once you get the hang of your unit.

- This little gadget does not work like I thought it was going to. Not necessarily a bad thing, just the mechanism is different. I thought the tbsp of oil would get circulated in the air of in which my food is cooked. Not so much. It's that you simply coat your food lightly with oil and cook it under a hot coil plate. It's more like baking than frying perhaps?

- Another thing that I'm learning, is that you have to leave the stuff you are frying on a single layer. Don't fill your container as they won't cook so nicely. I guess the air would have no where to go? Anyway, single layer works best. So you just have to cook a few smaller batches. Also, in which case means you have to use a bit more oil than the initial tablespoon that you were setting out to use for the whole batch. 

- So far the container is on the smaller side. For two people the volume would have been enough if you can fill it, but now with multiple batches it takes a while. I'm going to try this on different recipes and find a happy medium and see if there are things I can layer.

All in all, a fun little gadget for my frying adventures. I used to pan-fry things, and every time it feels like i'm drinking so much oil. So this will atleast be a good replacement. Fried vegetables are so tasty and can be semi-healthy too.