Ninja Nibbles

Kia ora Koutou. Some days you learn something, some days, well some days are just business as usual. Today I learnt that if I had a TV, I would have stumbled across the Ninja brand of electric BBQ months ago. I do like a good gadget and this BBQ seemed much like that, a gadget however…. on testing one today at the Sales Dock I am surprised and happy to say, she is a bloody little ripper.

Compact and electric she is the Swiss army knife of portable BBQ’s. A smoker, a grill, an air fryer and an oven and takes up bugger all space. I grew up with fire, in the home, in the bush, on the beach. I love fire cooking, the time, the attention, the smell, the dance of the flame, it has become an instinctive piece of me and the way I live and cook. However, needs must, and when cooking onboard, fire is a bastard, an untameable toddler, and a wretched dinner guest if left unaccompanied.

So when I was offered to test the Ninja I really had to contemplate, and to be fair, for those of us who enjoy cooking on a boat or in an urban yard, or an apartment deck, open fires and firewood are largely frowned upon. So with those concerns in mind we unpacked the Ninja, plugged her in and had a crack.

The wings were done to a delightful crisp in 14 minutes. 8 minutes on high roast and then 6 minutes on air fry. Simple to cook and once the machine cooled down, very simple to clean.

1 kg fresh Chicken nibbles coated with your favourite hot sauce and a little maple syrup.

Leave to marinate at least 2 hours or overnight wrapped in the chiller.

Bring them out of chiller to temper (warm up) an hour before cooking.

Preheat the BBQ to Hot (200C), this took about 15 minutes.

Using a good high heat spray oil coat the wire rack / basket (this is part of the BBQ package) to add a coating, this makes cleaning up at the end a great deal easier.

Add the chook nibbles to the wire rack/basket and then into the BBQ hood down for the said 14 minutes. Let them cool for 5 minutes, a squeeze of lime over them and plate.

A simple salad of sliced red onion and capsicum, stir in tzatziki and you have a crispy crunchy smooth slaw variation. The yoghurt in the tzatziki also helps to smooth out the heat of the hot sauce for your guests as well.

My trustee volunteers managed to hoover down both the nibbles and slaw in the time it took to wash down the wire basket. All in all quite successful. Next up we will give the smoker a nudge.

“Kia nui te kai!”