Help - cooking with steamer

Westywoodpecker

I also bought one a couple of weeks ago. So far I've only done veg, but was very surprised at how quick it is, and how even the humble carrot tastes different. I intend to try fish in it this week.

starlorna22

Hi,
I've decided to use the steamer (for the first time) to do my veg while I'm cooking tea - at the moment, but I can;t find the manual. I have fresh carrots, and frozen broccolli and cauliflower, could someone please tell me how long I should leave them in for? They've been in for about 5 mins already.
Thanks

leonie_2

Hmmm thats a bit tricky, cos it depends on how fine you cut your carrots, slices, wedges etc, but as a rule, I do my carrots for about 18 mins on my electric steamer and about 14 mins with my stove top one. Thats for carrot strips.

Sorry cant help with the frozen veg as I dont use it :-)

competitionscafe

I do (whole) carrots for 5 minutes and cauli florets for 7 to 10 mins - but I like my carrots with a bit of crunch. This is in a colander on top of a saucepan (with the suacepan lid on top of the colander) - haven't used my electric steamer for years!! (maybe they are slower?) Otherwise just keep tasting them until they are how you like.

leonie_2

Well I didnt realise that electric steamers were slower until recently when mine conked out and I borrowed a stove top one and it was faster. I was desperate to get a new electric one, but now I think i'll wait and explore what is available in the stove top market.

Aries

In my Tefal handbook the cooking times are
Carrots 500g fresh 10 min sliced thin
Broccoli 400g fresh 19 min cut in small florets
,, 400g frozen 13 min
mushrooms 500gfresh 11 min
cauliflower 1 average 20-25 min in small florets
cabbage 600g fresh 15-18 min sliced
Fine green Beans 500g fresh 20-25 min
,, 500g frozen 25-30 min
Corn on the cob 500g fresh 30 min
Leeks 500g fresh 8min sliced thin
Old Potatoes 600g 20-25 min small cubes
New potatoes 600g 35-40 min

I hpe this helps.

calleyw

Also it depends on how many tiers you are using and how much you put in each tier.

I steam frozen veg for 30-40 mins it sounds a lot but then it depends if you want it cooked or still hard.


Yours

Calley

starlorna22

Thanks everyone for getting back to me.
I ended up leaving them in for just under 20 mins and they were really nice, tasted a lot fresher than boiled . . .

Curry_Queen

I haven't used my electric steamer for a long time now as, like competitionscafe, I find my stove-top steamer to be more efficient, but I do remember they took longer than you would expect. I'd made a roast a dinner one day and set the steamer to something like 20 mins, expecting that to be plenty of time, and stupidly didn't check before serving up only to find everything was only half-cooked :doh:

I think it makes a difference in which layers you position everything too, so the denser veg, e.g. potatoes, would do better in the bottom with maybe carrots next and then something like broccoli or cabbage in the top. I'd say you need at least 30 mins to cook things through, if you still like your veggies to have a bit of "bite", if not longer!

leonie_2

Totally agree Curry-Queen and I do my veg in exactly the order you mention!

Thats in my electric steamer though and the stainless steel ones i've looked at only seem to have two tiers and arent as big as my electric one.

Has anyone got a three tier stainless steel one? I mean three tiers not including the base? I really need to buy a good one but im struggling and may have to buy yet another electric one that lasts about a year! :-(