A Note About Steaming
You may notice that our preferred method of cooking is steaming. There are several practical ways to steam food which we recommend.
Steamer Pot
We prefer to use a steamer pot. It is similar to a double boiler, but the top insert has holes in the bottom. There are no plastic parts coming in contact with the food and it is easy to use. Our steamer pot is dishwasher safe which makes cleanup easy.
Steamer
You can also use an actual steamer. This is a machine you plug in which does exactly what you would expect it to do. It cooks food using steam. We have one in our kitchen but it’s big, plastic, and hard to clean. However, there are some excellent steamers on the market. If you happen to have a good one, that’s probably your best option.
Steaming in the Oven
If you don’t have either of these handy gadgets, you can use your oven as a steamer. Use a deep baking dish with a lid, or make a cover with aluminum foil. Place the food in the dish, add some water, make sure the steam can’t get out, and you have yourself a steamer. You can also bypass the dish altogether and make a pouch out of the aluminum foil.
The disadvantage to using the oven as a steamer, is that you can burn the contents of the dish or pouch. It is just about impossible to burn anything, other than yourself, with a steamer or steamer pot. If you’re using your oven, you will have to experiment with the temperature and watch the food carefully.
If you don’t want to steam food, you don’t have to. Most of our recipes could be adapted to boiling or baking. We don’t recommend frying or microwaving.