Salt and Pepper Chicken in the Tefal ActiFry

My move towards healthy eating is going well. In fact, I think it’s safe to say it’s now more of a lifestyle for me and I consider healthy food to be the tastiest, most nutritious way to nourish my body. So ‘good’ or ‘better’ food choices are now pretty much ingrained in me! YAY!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect. I ate a McDonald’s last week (which yes, I admit, I enjoyed) and I’m still partial to gin, wine, prosecco, a cracking pale ale, etc. so don’t worry, I’ve not gone full health-nut…. just yet!

One of my favourite things to do, is think up ways of making traditionally ‘naughty’ meals ‘good’. Like my recipe for this lean turkey curry with cauliflower rice, or my favourite healthy sausage with baked eggs.

The ActiFry opens up a whole raft of opportunities to do this, as it’s hot-air technology and continuous rotation of food whilst it cooks, makes sure the food cooks evenly, and all with just a teeny spoon of oil used.

The nice folk at Tefal sent me an ActiFry express XL in black and challenged me to come up with a new recipe. After doing some initial research, I realised there’s so much more you can do with this than just chips – although it is great to do chips in too.

My Easy Tefal ActiFry Creation: Salt and Pepper Chicken

I mean, what is not to love about hot, deep-fried chicken smothered in chilli, garlic, onions and peppers? Our local Chinese, Paragon, is really quite special and their food is always great quality and really tasty without the use of MSG.

However, that doesn’t stop them deep-frying everything and using a ridiculous amount of oil in most dishes.

So this is my stripped-back, minimal oil version of my favourite Chinese takeaway dish teamed with a light egg fried rice.

It is so easy, tastes amazing and is ready in 30 minutes!

I used a combination of chicken thighs and drumsticks, but if you recreate this I would just stick to drumsticks with skins removed as they came out the best!

Serves two, takes 30 minutes. Better and healthier than a takeaway, promise!

Ingredients

For the Salt & Pepper Chicken:

• 6 decent-sized chicken drumsticks
• 1 large white onion, diced into 1 cm chunks
• 1 sweet red pepper, diced into 1.5 cm chunks
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
• 1 large green chilli pepper, finely chopped (remove seeds depending on heat tolerance)
• 1 Tefal spoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 Tefal spoons light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sea salt

For the light egg fried rice:

• 120g easy cook basmati rice (I use Tilda)
• 2 large, free-range eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp. light soy sauce

Method:

Start by removing the skins from the drumsticks. Then place them in a bowl along with the soy and sesame oil to marinade for about 10 minutes.

After marinating, add the chicken to the bowl of the ActiFry and set the timer to cook for 15 minutes. Ensure the rotating paddle is rotating before you set about prepping your rice.

Cook the basmati rice as per the cooking instructions, drain well and set aside to cool (don’t skip this step!) allowing as much steam as possible to evaporate from the rice.

After the chicken’s first 15 minutes, open the ActiFry and add the onion, garlic, peppers, chilli and some freshly ground sea salt (1 tsp.). Set the timer for a final 10 minutes and let it cook and rotate away while you get on with the rice.

Once your rice has dried out, add the vegetable oil to a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the rice and stir well so it gets lightly coated in the oil and warms through.

After 2-3 minutes, push all the rice to one side of the pan and add the beaten eggs to the empty side. Allow the eggs to start to scramble (a bit like if you’re making an omelette!) but as the egg firms up, use your spatula the break it into pieces. Slowly incorporate the rice to combine with the egg, add the soy and spring onion and season to taste.

Check the chicken is cooked through – no pink meat in sight and juices running clear.

Serve the salt & pepper chicken on top of the egg fried rice and make sure you scoop up all of the oniony-garlicky-chilli mixture goodness. Enjoy!

What is the ActiFry like to use?

Overall, I found the Tefal ActiFry Express XL exceptionally easy to use. It doesn’t actually have any settings as such, just ‘on’ and a timer; so it’s very easy to get to grips with.

I’ve also made some lovely chips in it and am looking forward to making granola, soy and ginger salmon and also a king prawn stir fry. The possibilities seem endless and the minimal use of oil is fantastic.

A huge thanks to Tefal for teaming up with me to bring you this recipe.

Find out more at www.tefal.co.uk.