Couple of weeks ago, I walked out of Jones The Grocer with a parcel bigger than me. Neatly gift-wrapped, it contained, what soon turned out to be, a brilliant addition to my kitchen table. De’Longhi’s spanking new Multifry Multicooker ExtraChef was launched in all its pomp and glory at their launch event that morning at the Jones the Grocer café in Sheikh Zayed Road. The invited bloggers and media persons got to play and cook with the high-end appliance, experiencing its ease and benefits first hand under the guidance of Chef Osama El Sayed. Shawarma meat was grilled, Chicken Tikka was cooked and Umm Ali was baked within a matter of effortless minutes. As if to pamper the guests rotten, each of us was gifted with the ExtraChef as a thank you for attending the launch event. A grand gesture, even by Dubai standards!

Over the days that the appliance has adorned my counter table, I was unable to do justice to its existence, owing to a number of family reasons. I knew that the time would ripen with the onset of Ramadan. And ripen, it did. Yesterday, with a sudden influx of about 16-18 guests in time for Iftar, I thanked my stars for having this super machine in my possession. I chopped up some peeled potatoes to season and roast in a few drops of oil. Cutlets, samosas and the traditional banana based ‘Unnakaayi’ were “fried” in a single tablespoon oil. And, wait for it…Mushroom Feta Muffins were BAKED in it without bothering my oven, in a matter of minutes.

Roasted Potato Wedges.
Peel and cut potatoes to small cubes. Put them in the multifry with its paddle on. Pour one-teaspoon oil over it and season with some freshly ground pepper and salt. Add any herb if you please. Close the lid, select the French Fries mode on, reduce the pre-set timer by 5 minutes (if you don’t like the potatoes too dry) and press start.

Samosa/Cutlet fry.
Remove the paddle from the multifry. Lay down the frozen/defrosted cultets/samosas inside the fryer. Drip and pour one-tablespoon oil over these and start the machine for 30 minutes in power level 2. You can choose to pause the fryer and flip the pastries at around 20 minutes through and then restart again.

Things you need:
Onions – 4 medium, sliced
Mushrooms – 1 packet, sliced
Fresh ground pepper, salt
Herbs
Feta Cheese – as desired
Eggs – 9 large
Milk – 4 tbsp
Butter – to coat muffin cups
Oil & Butter – to sauté

How to go about it:
Pour a tsp olive oil in a heated pan and add a knob of butter into it. Put the sliced onions into it and sauté till it is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Add some seasoning and keep it aside in a medium sized bowl.
In the same pan, add another knob of butter and sauté the mushroom slices till its juices are released. Add seasoning and some herb of your choice (I used Basil leaves and 1 tsp of garlic-herb powder). Take this off the flame and add it to the onion bowl.
To the onion-mushroom mixture, add some crumbled Feta Cheese and mix well.
In another bowl, break the eggs and whisk for couple of minutes. Add the milk to this and whisk just enough to incorporate.
Take the muffin cases and coat it with butter. You can also use a non-stick spray. Put 2 tbsp of the mushroom mixture into each case. Top it with the egg-milk liquid. Gently mix with a fork.
Keep the cases inside the multifry. Close the lid and select the “Cake” option (25 minutes in power level 2). Once done, keep the cases out for 5-10 minutes before wedging it out with a sharp knife.

I think it makes sense to add a few excerpts from the official press release of De’Longhi for their Multifry Multicooker ExtraChef to give you an idea of the technical features of the product.
“….The technology behind the Multifry Multicooker Extra Chef’s adaptability and versatility lies in De’Longhi’s state-of-the-art Surround Heating System (SHS). This invested knowledge, exclusive to De’Longhi, delivers an exceptional cooking experience to households. The dual heating elements and fan work simultaneously to evenly distribute heat, while the automatic motion of the removable paddle gently mixes a vast combination of ingredients allowing home cooks to serve a variety of perfectly cooked meals in minutes.

Last year, De’Longhi introduced the Multifry Multicooker, its range of baseline models in the multicooker range. The Multifry Multicooker Extra Chef marks the launch of its high-end Multicooker, completing the full range available. The Extra Chef model provides equal upper and lower heating power, cooking as a real electric oven with a fan. It also features a digital cooking function control panel. And, for more recipe ideas and cooking suggestions, download the De’Longhi Recipe book from the mobile or iPad play store. Here, food lovers can browse a large variety of traditional and worldwide recipes, in both English and Arabic, featuring ingredients and cooking instructions to prepare the ideal meal. Simply download the app, follow the directions and the Extra Chef will do the rest!”

“……The De’Longhi Multifry Multicooker Extra Chef is now available across all leading electronic goods stores and hyper markets across key countries in the Middle East, at a base RRP of AED 899.

De’Longhi Multifry Multicooker Extra Chef Features:
SURROUND HEATING SYSTEM
SHS (Surround Heating System) delivers exceptional performance as it surrounds the food with heat to cook it evenly. The upper heating element and fan deliver uniform heat from the top, while the lower heating element delivers heat from the bottom, and the removable mixing paddle takes care of stirring the food automatically. SHS is an exclusive technology, developed by De’Longhi, to make the Extra Chef the most advanced, low-oil cooking appliance available.

UPPER HEATING ELEMENT + FAN
The combination of the 1400 W heating element and fan provide a centralized uniform distribution of heated air that permits to cook with convection and grill resulting in better and more rapid frying performances.

DOUBLE HEATING ELEMENT & FAN
The second heating element is a unique feature in low-oil fryers. Positioned under the bowl, it speeds up the cooking process and improves the quality of cooking for a greater selection of recipes.

INDEPENDENT LOWER HEATING ELEMENT
An exclusive feature of the Extra Chef, the lower heating element runs 800 W and can work independently from the upper one for the classic pan cooking.

THE AUTOMATIC PADDLE
The automatic motion of the paddle gently mixes food and permits cooking without any need to manually stir food. The exclusive design of the heating elements allows the use of the Extra Chef without the mixing paddle (static cooking), which allows for greater flexibility.”

The Multifry Extrachef was received by FoodKissed as a thank you gesture during their launch event. FoodKissed is in no way paid or encouraged to promote the product. All opinions mentioned in this post are derived from personal experiences. That said, the product is hassle-free and healthy owing to the extremely small quantity of oil it uses for frying many dishes like cutlets and spring rolls, useful especially during Ramadan time. For this reason alone, FoodKissed can’t recommend it enough!

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