Steam Food in a Wok, Pan or Pot

If you're looking for a quick, no-hassle way to prepare nutritious and great-tasting food, look no further than the steamer. This traditional Asian cooking technique is good for your palate and your health -- that's because it preserves nutrients that are destroyed by methods like boiling, pressure-cooking, and microwaving. All you need to start steaming is a pot with a lid, a steamer, and a stove to steam 'er by!

Steps

 * 1)  Fill a pot, pan, or wok with a small amount of water -- how much water depends on the size of the pot and how high the steamer sits. The water level should be low enough that water won't touch the food when the steamer's placed in the pot. A good rule is to start with 1/4 - 1/2 an inch of water, or enough water to reach 1 inch below the bottom of the steamer.
 * 2)  Place the steamer into the pot, checking to make sure the water level meets the above requirement.
 * 3)  Place food in the steamer, making sure the individual pieces don't touch. (Unless you're steaming vegetables, of course!)
 * 4)  Turn the stove's heat to "medium" and bring the water to a simmer.
 * 5)  Put the lid on the pot, and steam for the amount of time indicated in your recipe (or see the guidelines below for steaming times).
 * 6)  When the time's up, take the lid off the pot (watch out for the steam!), and remove the food from the steamer with your favored utensil. (Cooking chop sticks work nicely, as do forks.)
 * 7)  Serve and enjoy.

Tips

 * Steaming times vary with the size of your steaming system and with the type and size of the food you're steaming. Small pieces of food take less time than large pieces, and leafy greens take less time than more solid vegetables. There's a lot of room for personal variation due to taste, too. Try these times as general starting points: meats, 10-15 minutes; solid vegetables, 4-8 minutes; leafy green vegetables, 1-7 minutes. Experiment with your system and see what works, and learn from recipes that involve steaming.
 * Steam needs room to circulate, so leave space between pieces of food and between food and the lid. Vegetables are the exception -- feel free to pile veggies like broccoli and carrots. Leafy greens are even better -- they take up less space after steaming than before, so you can pack them in up to the lid.
 * Grease the steamer with non-stick spray or butter spray to prevent sticking, or use another traditional Asian technique and line the bottom of the steamer with cabbage leaves.
 * If you have a bamboo steamer rather than a metal mesh steamer, a wok or pan may be a better fit than a pot. If you don't have a big or tall enough pan with a lid, fear not! Most bamboo steamers come with their own lid, and you can follow the above steps substituting the lid of the steamer for that of the pot.
 * If you don't have a steamer, you can use a colander instead, as long as it fits inside the pot with the lid closed.

Warnings

 * Refrain from taking the lid off the pot while food is steaming. This lets steam and heat escape, which increases cooking time. If you check on your food, check quickly!

Related Tips and Steps

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 * How to Make Vegetable Biryani
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 * How to Eat With Chopsticks
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 * How to Sauté Vegetables
 * How to Make Chinese Chicken Corn Soup
 * How to Make Fried Rice
 * How to Pan Fry Scallops