Toddlers are born to be picky eaters (Philips)

This is part 2 of my 3 Airfried recipes which I mentioned in my Irrestible fried food is not necesarily bad for you

Up to today, I have not come across any mummy who has not complained once about meal time battles with her toddler. Occasionally, you may hear some success stories about how a toddler had decided to be fuss-free at meal time and gobbled up everything that the mother painstakingly made. I bet that mother would have called up everyone she knew, uploaded some pictures on her social media and even shared the recipe for other struggling mummies. 

I know the feeling and when it happens, I feel like I have conquered the world. I would not stop rambling about it and snapping pictures of my child actually enjoying her meal, becomes a must. 

So here I share with you the recipe which was a hit with my toddler that even tackled a very common meal time battle many mummies face with their children, vegetables. 

Ask any child if they would like a helping of vegetable in their meal and at most will times the answer is “NO” with exception to a limited selection of vegetables- carrot, potato and beans. 

There are many ways to combat this battle and the most famous being, sneaking the vegetables in children’s meal by chopping it up so fine that you would need a magnifying glass to locate the existence of any vegetable in your bowl of pasta or curry. The other option is by threatening or bribing a child to eat up his vegetable. 

I have stopped resorting to threat or bribe when feeding my toddler like I did with my elder two children because I remember how difficult, stressful and time consuming meal time was with them. 

When these threats and bribes didn't work with them, I resorted to hiding the vegetables in my curries and pasta sauces. As they grew older it became harder to hide these vegetables and I had to go to great lengths to ensure they had a proper meal when we were away from home, like on holidays, at functions and parties. 

Not wanting to repeat the same mistake, I now introduce as much vegetables as possible to my toddler. I keep these vegetables in its natural form or at least with some resemblance to its original color and shape so she can easily recognise these vegetables when we are out grocery shopping or when it is served raw.

It's fun to watch her reaction each time she comes across broccoli, carrot and her favorite cauliflower at the green grocer.

Today's recipe is Cauliflower fritters

Airfried cauliflower florets

 Preparation time: 5 minutes

 Cooking time: 25 minutes

The Ingredients

500gm organic cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup rice flour

1 tablespoon turmeric powder

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to taste

The method

You could either steam, boil or microwave the cauliflower till they are soft (takes about 3-4 minutes).

In a large bowl mix the flour (you can add 1/2 cup more flour if you like your fritters to be completely covered in batter) and turmeric powder. Slowly pour water (1/4 cup) into the batter to achieve a thick consistency (not runny). Then add the oil, salt and pepper. Transfer the cauliflower into the batter and ensure each floret is coated well.

Preheat the Airfryer to 185'C.

Put the cauliflowers into the basket and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes. Halfway through the cooking process (around 12 minutes) pull out the pan and shake it a little so the cauliflower wont stick together.

In this picture I've lined the basket with a sheet of foil paper

but this isn't necessary and may hinder even cooking result.

Serving suggestions:

For my toddler

This was served for lunch with a dollop of home made yogurt.

My little one tends to lick the yogurt first before attacking the fritters

For the rest of the family

You may serve this as a side dish along with your dinner meal or you can have it as a full meal with my special spicy mix chutney:1/4 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 cup Nandos Peri-Peri sauce and 1/4 cup ketchup.

Results:

The cauliflower fritters turned out evenly cooked and golden. It was not too oily to touch, crispy and crunchy at the same time.  This thanks to the it's Patented Rapid Air Technology which allows you to cook your food with up to 80% less fat.

These fritters are best served immediately to retain its crispness.

Some important notes

Key Features

• Patented Rapid Air Technology - combines hot air with grill component to 'fry' food
• In-built time - lets you set cooking times of up to 30 mins
• Adjustable temperature control - cooks food at steady rate up to 200'C
• Food separator accessory - lets you cook multiple food items at th same time without mixing the flovours
• Integrated air filter - reduces vapours and odours

Specifications

• 30 minutes timer with auto shut-off
• Product dimension (W x H x D) 287 x 315 x 384 mm
• Capacity 800gm
• Weight appliance 7kg
• Cord length 0.8 m
• Voltage 230v
• Ready signal and temperature light
• Cool-touch handgrips

Retail Price

• RM1,190

Life Simplified note: You could premix cauliflower with the batter in an air-tight container or Ziploc bag and refrigerate it. But the batter has to be thicker than the recipe given above and if some of the fritters don't get coated well, don't worry as when you are ready to fry these, just sprinkle a little water and give it a good shake before transferring it into the preheated Airfryer.

Thanks to Philip, I am able to serve freshly fried food every time with a little advance planning and prepping. Life is so much simplified with these wonderful small kitchen appliances.

For more recipes, please head over to my Recipes page

Thank you for stopping by at A cuppa for my thoughts

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Disclosure: I have not received any compensation for doing this review. It was originally written for Babytalk magazine. I did however receive a demo Air fryer (which has been returned) from Philips to assist me in coming up with this recipe an share my experience using it.