Category:Steamed
This category contains recipes where primary method of cooking is steaming.
Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. Overcooking or burning food is easily avoided when steaming it. Health conscious individuals may prefer steaming to other methods which require cooking oil, resulting in lower fat content.
Steaming also results in a more nutritious food than boiling because fewer nutrients are leached away into the water, which is usually discarded.
In Chinese cooking, steaming is used to cook many meat dishes, for example, steamed whole fish, steamed pork spare ribs, steamed ground pork or beef patties, steamed chicken, steamed goose etc. Other than meat dishes, many Chinese rice and wheat foods are steamed too. Examples include buns, Chinese steamed cakes etc. Steamed meat dishes (except some dim sum) are less common in Chinese restaurants than in traditional home cooking because meats usually require longer cooking time to steam than to stir fry.
You can use a traditional Chinese steamer to steam food, however, the ones I have found are quite small. I find a colander raised on an Pyrex bowl in a large pan is a better method.
Cooking times for steaming food
| Food type | Distance from steam source † | Food steaming cooking times | Food preparation notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asparagus spears | Near | 4 to 5 minutes | Trim woody stumps |
| Spinach | Near | 3 to 4 minutes | Use washed whole leaves |
| Carrots | Far | 7 to10 minutes | Peeled and cut to 5mm slices |
| New potatoes | Far | 15 to 20 minutes | Washed, scrubbed, whole with skins on |
| Cabbage | Far | 10 to 15 minutes | Leaves quartered with stems removed |
| Broccoli | Far | 5 to 8 minutes | Trimmed florets, cut cross in base if large florets |
| Corn on the cob | Far | 10 to 15 minutes | Whole with husks removed |
| Leeks | Far | 8 to 10 minutes | Washed and cut into 1 cm discs |
| Cauliflower | Far | 5 to 10 minutes | Cut into florets |
| Sugar snap peas | Far | 5 to 8 minutes | Top & tail, leave whole |
| Brussels sprouts | Far | 10 to 15 minutes | Peel and cut cross in base |
| Celery | Far | 5 to 10 minutes | Leave whole or dice |
| Butternut squash | Far | 10 to 12 minutes | Peel and cut into 2 cm cubes |
| Sweet potatoes | Far | 8 to 12 minutes | Peel and cut into 2 cm cubes |
| Chicken fillets | Far | 10 to 15 minutes | Season first |
| Salmon fillets | Far | 6 to 10 minutes | Remove scales & season |
| Small whole fish | Far | 10 to 15 minutes | Gutted and descaled |
| Whole prawns | Far | 5 to 7 minutes | Deveined (or can be cooked with shell on) |
† If the steamer has an adjustable basket, this is the distance source of the steam.
See also
Pages in category ‘Steamed’
The following 38 pages are in this category, out of 38 total.