steaming veg

giardiniera

i dont eat veg and i'm trying to change that. i have a steamer and i know the best way to cook veg is to steam it but i dont know how long to steam things for, or what is suitable for steaming.
Also i'm not very adventurous with food so aside from the standard veg what else should i try.
Any advice on cooking veg would be great.
thanks

October

If you still have the handbook that came with the steamer it should give a guide of timings for different veg. If I am steaming frozen veg, I generally give it 15-20 minutes. The best way though is to experiment with different veg to see what you like best.

What I have been doing lately is heat a little oil in a wok and stir fry the veg - mostly carrots, cabbage, brocolli, brussel sprouts or green beans and sprinkle over one or more of cumin, corriander, turmeric, ginger, nutmet, cinnamon or curry powder. Stir fry for about 5 minutes or so and then put about a tablespoon of water in and put a lid on the wok and turn the heat right down and let it steam for about 10 minutes. I find using spices to flavour makes it a lot easier to eat the veg! Hope this helps.

Frogdog

giardiniera wrote: »

i dont eat veg and i'm trying to change that. i have a steamer and i know the best way to cook veg is to steam it but i dont know how long to steam things for, or what is suitable for steaming.
Also i'm not very adventurous with food so aside from the standard veg what else should i try.
Any advice on cooking veg would be great.
thanks

First off, fair play for starting off eating veg and knowing that steaming them is a healthy way to cook them.

Secondly, when I steam veg I use a fork to test if they're cooked or not. Stick the fork in the veg and depending on how well cooked you like your veg the easier the fork will sink into the veg. Hard veg (eg carrots, turnips, parsnips, brussels sprouts, cauliflower,) obviously take a little bit longer than soft veg (brocolli, peas, cabbage, mangetout, green beans).

I don't know what you consider standard veg but I've listed a few different types above that you should try.

Steaming is also the most efficient way to cook by the way! A lot quicker than most others and very little mess afterwards!

Mellor

October wrote: »

If you still have the handbook that came with the steamer it should give a guide of timings for different veg. If I am steaming frozen veg, I generally give it 15-20 minutes. The best way though is to experiment with different veg to see what you like best.

What I have been doing lately is heat a little oil in a wok and stir fry the veg - mostly carrots, cabbage, brocolli, brussel sprouts or green beans and sprinkle over one or more of cumin, corriander, turmeric, ginger, nutmet, cinnamon or curry powder. Stir fry for about 5 minutes or so and then put about a tablespoon of water in and put a lid on the wok and turn the heat right down and let it steam for about 10 minutes. I find using spices to flavour makes it a lot easier to eat the veg! Hope this helps.

You aren't steaming the veg, its likely sligtly better than stirfrying completely, but its not close to steaming in terms of health


OP, you have lots of room for adjusting times when steaming.

Take brocolli, 10 mins it is edible and crunchy, 20 minutes it is edible and soft

I normally, just leave it on until my main food is ready, I am happy to eat it crunchy or soft. I leave it on so thats its still hot when I sit down

Tar.Aldarion

I seem to always stirfry or roast veg, maybe I should steam some times?
Any real point? Suppose it may be a bit healthier.

Mellor

Healthier, tastier, quicker.
What else do you look for in food.

I sometimes like roasts when they are crunchy as a change to steamed. But they take ages.

Even if I'm doing a stir fry, I keep broccoli, pak choi, carrots etc separate. Steam these and only stir fry beansprouts and peppers adding the steam veg just before serving.

giardiniera

thank you for all that.

standard veg for me is cabbage, broccoli and carrots so anything outside that would be different. So thanks for all the suggestions, its certainly something to work with.

Tar.Aldarion

Certainly not tastier! Or quicker than a proper stirfry which takes a sec. But may be healthier, wondering is the oil that bad that I should bother avoiding it sometimes.

El_Dangeroso

A really tasty way to get into veg is to to make ratatouille.

http://www.greatfood.ie/item_display.asp?cde=2&id=351

Really nice with some roast chicken, leftovers re-heat well too.