NINJA

 I have succumbed to buying a Ninja. Thought about it for a bit and as I was never happy with deep fat fryer, and as slow cooker was needing replaced I decided this was the time to go for it. Read up a bit on it, seemed fairly positive in its reviews, and a flick through Pinterest made me think it may be more useful than I’d hoped for. On the negative side it’s quite bulky and would take up a lot of counter space. However, with a bit of juggling around I found the perfect place in utility room. I find that if appliances are put away out of sight the less I’m likely to drag them out to use them. 

So once I’d got it home and unpacked it all, there was a lot of packaging, I had a read through instructions and wondered what I could use to test it out. Oven chips of course 😂  We all have a bag in the freezer and nothing lost should I mess up. Said 18mins on instructions but to shake halfway through. Luckily I did this as after 9mins they were pretty much ready  I gave them another couple of minutes and they were perfectly cooked, very crispy and with a sprinkling of sea salt very delicious..I guess it depends on the thickness of the chips you’re  cooking how long they will take to cook. But this made me realise it would take a bit of experimenting to get it right, and that I would need to be prepared for mistakes along the way  

I bought a chicken for my next cook. This would be cooked using pressure cooker method followed by air crisp function. 30mins cooking time. It’s a long time since I used a pressure cooker and was slightly sceptical about the timings. However I need not have worried  as I was rewarded with a cooked chicken which not only looked good but was delicious, beautifully moist and tasty. Definite success and will be repeated  

I’m sure you’ll agree it looks good enough to eat. And eat it we did. Roast dinner on first day,Nasi Goreng the following night for dinner and sandwiches for lunch for a couple of days. Not forgetting making a stock for soup with the bones. 

Today I roasted some beetroots to be made into pickled beetroot. Another success. 

So far I’m very happy with the results and will be using it on a regular basis. I’m sure there will be disasters, but I can only learn from them, hopefully not too many of them. On the minus side I may miss the aroma of cooking in the kitchen. On the plus side Robin’s kipper for breakfast this week didn’t stink the whole house out for hours! 

When I first posted on FB my “Ninja Chicken” I had quite a few questions from people thinking of buying one so this is why I thought I’d blog my results. I will continue to do this as I discover what the new love in my kitchen can do. 

One negative is that it does not alert you with a ping or beep when cooking time is up. Not a huge deal but does mean setting a timer if you want to check how things are going  through the cooking period. 

So I now look forward to seeing just what it can do, and what things are better cooked in the traditional way. Hours and hours of fun ahead. I’m sure it will earn the space it takes up for a long time to come.