The Chinese steamer is a convenient cooking tool for making steamed dishes, but it may be a bit wasteful to use it only for steaming. In this article, we will suggest some ways to make the most of the Chinese steamer for steaming.
Introducing new ways to use
Basically, when cooking with a Chinese steamer, you boil water in a pot and use the steamer on top of the pot to cook. In addition to boiling water and steaming, you can also cook miso soup or stews in a pot underneath the steamer and use the steam to cook another dish at the same time. This makes cooking more efficient and saves energy !
Specific steps
Now, let's take a look at the steps to cook soup and steamed dishes at the same time using a Chinese steamer, with pictures included. If you master this method, you'll be able to easily prepare a wide variety of dishes on your table, even on busy days!
First, start cooking the pot. Put the pork soup ingredients in the pot and stir fry. Once they are cooked, add the stock and heat. The miso will be added last, after the steaming is complete, so leave it at this point.
Next, we will make the sake steamed dish. We put kitchen paper in the Chinese steamer to make it a little deeper, then we put green onions on it and put the cod fillets on top. We sprinkle sake on top. You can also put cabbage on the bottom, but this time we use the green part of the green onion to eliminate the fishy smell.
We use a two-tiered Chinese steamer. We steam tofu on the top tier. Surprisingly, tofu is delicious when steamed. One extra step is to put the tofu in the refrigerator overnight under a weight to drain the water, which gives it a chewy and interesting texture. This will be seasoned after it has finished steaming.
As shown in the photo above, this time I made a thick sauce using green onions, crab sticks, and Chinese soup base, and poured it over the finished tofu.
summary
By using a Chinese steamer in this way, you can finish steaming dishes at the same time as you simmer miso soup or stews. Using the steam without waste is eco-friendly and shortens cooking time. There is no need to prepare special tools, and the convenience of being able to add a dish by simply stacking it on top of a regular pot is also appealing. Please try using the Chinese steamer, which allows you to cook efficiently and without hassle even on busy days!
