I hate cooking. I hate the daily challenge of deciding what will be for tea.
It's not that I necessarily can't cook, it's more that I haven't got the patience and I constantly worry about whether things are cooked properly. So anything to make that task easier is a bonus.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I am in the category of those who bought an air fryer when it was on sale and has left it at the back of the cupboard ever since. But when I found myself on the foodie side of TikTok, all the recipes and hacks were rather inspiring.
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I told myself it looked easy and anyone could do it. And that's exactly what I did after work this week. I saw a salt and pepper chicken recipe and craved it, but couldn't bring myself to order takeout for myself midweek – the self control there amazed me. Being from Liverpool, I love salt and pepper anything – who doesn't?
So when I was promised a "super easy recipe" with minimalistic effort, that "tasted exactly like a takeout" – what is it called, a fakeaway? – I geared myself up for the task, looking forward to my tea that day. I saved the video and noted down the ingredients, chicken, cornstarch, the spices, pepper and onions, and did what it said on the tin – to cover the chicken in cornstarch that had been mixed with the seasoning, before placing it in the air fryer.
Sounds easy enough, but I was surprised at the mess it made, though that may have just been me. Anyway, it certainly looked the part and it actually tasted really nice. I did add more salt and pepper seasoning though because who doesn’t love that?
Then I decided to make some friend rice just because I could. Okay, I admit I actually did the rice using the hob but I was hungry and didn't want to wait. I used the microwaved long grain rice before popping it into the frying pan and covering with soy sauce. I let it all mix in for a few minutes and it was ready.
All in all, it was a pretty good tea, albeit the chicken was a bit dry and slightly on the crispy side, but for a first time I was pretty impressed. I was actually surprised with the end result – if you've seen some of my other cooking/baking attempts you'd know why.
Here's the basic recipe I followed for homemade Salt and Pepper Chicken:
I mixed some cornstarch with salt and pepper seasoning – or five spice seasoning if you have that in – with a teaspoon of brown sugar, ginger and a bit more garlic. Cover the chopped chicken with the spice mix above – I used an egg to help it stick but some people like to use a five-spice marinade.
When the chicken is covered, place it into the air fryer, sprayed with oil, for around 10 minutes on 180C. Then turn the chicken pieces around and raise the temperature to 200C. Some people cook it for a further five minutes but I did it for 10. I completely forgot to add in my onions and peppers so I did put it in for an extra five minutes after that (that was my mistake).
Then it's ready to serve, topped with chilli and extra salt and pepper seasoning.
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