Ninja Foodi/Air fryers/Rice makers

[Slenver]

Related to, but not the same as, that gadget thread, it's Black Friday coming up soon and as stupid as it is, it's become the only acceptable time to buy kitchen gadgets it seems. Any other time would be like going to DFS when there's not a sale on.

We don't have any of these new-fangled gadgets, apart from a much-loved slow cooker with a melted handle (no, my love, you don't need to keep it warm in the oven), and a sandwich toastie maker (not bought in 1978 but last month).

So, are any of these 1000-in-1 devices worth the valuable kitchen space? And, importantly, can any of them actually cook fucking rice reliably? We eat a lot of rice but my missus, despite being a bit brown seems to have forgotten her cultural learnings and can't do rice for toffee, nor can I. We had a rice maker a few years ago but chucked it after it became apparent that it couldn't actually cook rice.

Obviously there are two separate questions there, but if there was a 10,000-in-1 device that could air-fry chips, do decent rice and reverse Brexit then that would be nice.

[Taff]

We've got a ninja foodie and use it a few times a week for various things like pressure cooking, slow cooker, making yoghurt and air frying.

It mostly does what it says on the tin but like any other gadget it takes a few goes to get the hang of it.

It is quite bulky and the power lead quite short so we're limited on where it could live.
Never tried rice in it.

[Slenver]

Cheers. Is the air frying thing actually a thing? Does it do decent chips with not much oil? Pressure cooking and slow cooking also useful, and I like the idea of making yogurt. I guess they do porridge too? Everything does porridge..

[Taff]

Yeah, we've used it a few times but tbh we don't really eat chips very often and when we do they come from the chippy.

The other thing that I didn't mention is dehydrating fruit. Oh man, the flavours you get from dehydrated pineapple, or apple is amazing. Wifey did a whole load of cherry tomatoes from the greenhouse and she says they are amazing (I hate them)

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

We use a saucepan and water for rice without any problems - I just follow the instructions that are on the rice packet

[MingtheMerciless]

We use our Ninja for doing chips (it can do other things but we've not tried them yet) but after a bit of practice it odes chips almost as good as a deep fat fryer.

[MingtheMerciless]

Rice is best done in the microwave, two parts water to one part rice in a bowl and cover then press the auto rice button on the microwave and twenty or so minutes later, perfect rice.

[Slenver]

Rice is best done in the microwave, two parts water to one part rice in a bowl and cover then press the auto rice button on the microwave and twenty or so minutes later, perfect rice.

Never occurred to me to use the microwave. Not sure if it's got a rice button mind you.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Rice is best done in the microwave, two parts water to one part rice in a bowl and cover then press the auto rice button on the microwave and twenty or so minutes later, perfect rice.

That sounds very similar to doing it in a saucepan, twice as much water as rice, bring to boil, simmer for the time on the pack, usually 20 minutes.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I've not yet failed with the Ken Hom rice method, which I've also seen repeated by lots of other forrin looking Chefs.

• Desired amount of rice in the pan
• Cover with water to a depth of "half a thumb" above the water. I generally just give a 'thumbs down' sort of gesture and touch the top of the rice, the water comes up to my knuckle.
• Boil over a medium/high heat until the water level has dropped and 'craters' are appearing in the top of the rice
• Turn the heat down as low as you can get it, put a tight fitting lid on and simmer for 10 mins. DO NOT PEAK!
• Done

Beats the 20 minute crew by at least 90s too

[Mussels]

I've not tried a rice cooker, it seems as pointless as an egg boiler. I've had a couple of air fryers and found them very good for small portions but not great if you have teenage kids.
I now have a combi microwave that seems to do most stuff, chips get heated in the microwave before going in the deep fat fryer for three minutes because air fryers just can't match proper chips.

[Noggin]

I do rice in my pressure cooker, so you can probably do it in the Ninja. Took a couple of goes to get it right mind!! And I have to remind myself the water and time every time I do it!! LOL

I use the pressure cooker and the airfryer a LOT. Even got rid of the toaster as it took up as much space and the air fryer does toast ok! Now I only use the proper oven for actual cake stuff or big roast type things!!

[Mr. Dazzle]

I do rice in my pressure cooker, so you can probably do it in the Ninja.

You're also a couple of thousand metres up?

A pressure cooker is probably a necessity to cook rice properly where you are!

[Noggin]

I do rice in my pressure cooker, so you can probably do it in the Ninja.

You're also a couple of thousand metres up?

A pressure cooker is probably a necessity to cook rice properly where you are!

LOL Never even thought of that!! I have cooked it in a pan up here before, but when I started doing rice for chinese takeaway meals, I had the pressure cooker!! A smidge easier

[asmethurst99]

We have a rice cooker - seems to work best with sushi rice - we bought it in Japan and had a to buy a transformer to use in the UK - we also have a cheapo takoyaki pan that we can use as well (it cost under a tenner in the Japanese equivalent of LIDL )
If you eat a lot of rice the a rice cooker is useful

[Felix]

Tefal if getting an air fryer but good money is on the Ninja for the win. Only down side is when using it as an air fryer it does not turn the food so you need to stop and stir a coupled of times but as it excels in every other way ill forgive it for that.

[Taipan]

We've got the Ninja aa-in-one pressure cooker/air fryer thing, but the air fryer is very limited. So i'm thinking of getting a dedicated air fryer. The COSORI Air Fryer XXL 5.5L comes highly recommended and in a few tests outperforms the Phillips its always compared to? Amazon has just dropped the price to £81.72 which is so cheap, I think I can't not buy one, despite the Wife protesting we don't need one?

[Mr. Dazzle]

I've just started doing dippy eggs in the air fryer. 10 minutes at 120°C and they're perfect. Zero clean up afterwards.

I suppose technically you could do them in a normal oven too, but that feels wrong somehow

[Ant]

I actively call my air fryer a mini oven, as it's not an air fryer, it doesn't fry, doesn't fry air. They're bloody good at what they are and that's being a mini oven. I did bacon in mine last week and it turned out very well.

[Count Steer]

I actively call my air fryer a mini oven, as it's not an air fryer, it doesn't fry, doesn't fry air. They're bloody good at what they are and that's being a mini oven. I did bacon in mine last week and it turned out very well.

How do they differ from the thing I use? It's a Panasonic combi thing so it will microwave and be a small convection oven. I only ever use the microwave to thaw stuff out but use it as an oven a lot. Is it just bigger than an air fryer? If so I might try some air fryer recipes in it - there's quite a few that look useful but I'm reluctant to buy yet another piece of kit that might end up in the cupboard with the juicer etc.