Humphries - Healthy Recipes for your Steamer

There are specially designed steamers from streamlined electric to shiny chrome tiered ones or you can simply use two plates or a colander over a saucepan of boiling water. This book tells you how to use all these methods. Steaming is a moist, delicious method of cooking. Forget any ideas you may have of bland invalid food steaming produces glorious colours, flavours and textures in everything you eat. With this book you can learn to create whole meals in a stack; smooth, velvety sauces; light, luscious puddings; vibrant, tasty vegetables and fruits; perfectly produced cheese and egg dishes and tender, succulent meat, fish and poultry. Youll also discover how to make the fluffiest rice and couscous and non-sticky pasta.

Steaming is a wonderful way to cook because, for the most part, the food cooks without any attention from you you leave it to do its own thing. Its ideal for the health-conscious, as you dont have to add any extra fat (unless you want to) and it can save on fuel costs too, as you can cook a whole meal in one stack of tiers. With this great range of exciting new recipes and a complete section on good old traditional favourites too you can be sure you will enjoy a fabulous, all-round culinary experience! Steaming the healthy option Vitamins and minerals are lost as soon as cut surfaces of vegetables and fruit are exposed to air or water. But if you cook in steam the loss is reduced, so many more nutrients are retained together with the lovely bright colours and intense flavours (which are diluted by cooking in water). For instance, when you steam broccoli, you retain nearly three-quarters of the vitamin C whereas if you boil it, you lose almost two-thirds! Other foods, too, benefit from this method. Steamed brown rice, for example, keeps nearly all its vitamin B1, which is lost with other cooking methods.

Meat, fish and poultry, which lose some vitamin A, in particular, when they are cooked at high temperatures, retain far more nutrients when steamed, and the gentle cooking method also helps to soften the fibres, making them tender, moist and easily digestible. To maximise the health value, if steaming in a dish, try serving the cooking juices with the food, either just as they are or made into a sauce. But remember, too, if you use a steamer to reheat food, some nutrients will inevitably be lost. How steaming works The principles of steaming are the same whichever type of gadget you use. Steam is created by boiling liquid in the base container. It rises up through the food lying in a perforated container suspended above the liquid.

The boiling liquid itself never comes into direct contact with the food. There may be several steamer tiers, stacked snugly on top of each other, and the top is sealed with a tight-fitting lid. This prevents the steam from escaping, but allows it to circulate round the food, cooking it in the heat and moisture. The further the food is away from the source of the steam, the less steam there will be, thus lengthening the cooking time. For this reason, you should always put denser foods that need more cooking in the bottom tiers, close to the steam source, and tender, delicate foods that require less cooking in the top tiers. When using basins or other covered containers of food, make sure there is enough room inside the cover to allow for rising (of steamed puddings etc.) or for the accumulation of cooking juices.

Steaming methods As I said earlier, there are several different ways to steam. Method 1 The food is placed in a perforated container and suspended over boiling water. Whether you use an electric steamer, stacking metal or bamboo tiers or an expanding steamer, this is the method for most steam cookery. The food is placed directly in the container and covered tightly with a lid. No water comes into contact with the food at all. It is suitable for cooking meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruit and light desserts.

Method 2 The food is placed in a covered basin or in a foil-wrapped parcel or between two plates, over a pan of boiling water. Alternatively, a double saucepan may be used, with the water in the lower pan. This method is suitable for making sauces, melting chocolate and steaming puddings, terrines, fillets of fish, chicken etc. It can also be used to reheat plated meals, to thaw some foods and to keep foods such as pancakes warm. Again the food does not come in contact with the boiling water at all so the heat remains the same throughout the cooking process. Method 3 The food is placed in a basin or other dish, which is then covered with a double thickness of foil or greaseproof (waxed) paper, twisted and folded under the rim to secure.

Alternatively, a pudding cloth may be used to cover the basin, tied tightly with string. The basin is placed on a trivet (to prevent contact with the fierce heat at the base of the saucepan) in a pan of boiling water, with enough water to come halfway up the sides of the basin. The pan is covered with a tight-fitting lid and the pan is topped up with more boiling water as it evaporates. It is vital that no moisture is allowed to touch the food or the results will be soggy and disappointing. Method 4 This is similar to method 3. The food is placed in a bain marie, a shallow container in which dishes of delicate foods such as egg-based desserts may be steamed.

Boiling water is added to come no more than halfway up the sides of the dishes of food. The whole water bath is covered with foil to contain the steam and the food is then simmered gently on the hob or cooked in the oven at no more than 160C/325F/gas mark 3 (fan oven 145C). Method 5 This is known as the absorption method and is particularly suitable for rice and other grains. The food is added to a measured amount of boiling water or stock in a pan. It is then brought back to the boil, covered tightly and the heat turned down as low as possible.