Bamboo Steamer
The bamboo double boiler is a device for cooking steam. Judging by the name it is easy to guess that the material for its manufacture is bamboo, or rather, bamboo fiber. The bottom and the cover of the box are made of woven straw.
A bit of history
Genlon, or literally translated from Chinese, "steam basket", invented about 7 thousand years ago. The material of their manufacture was constantly changing and it was not possible for the archaeologists to establish exactly when the wooden baskets were invented. Since the tree is not as durable as bronze or ceramics, therefore, it was not possible to find bamboo dishes in ancient burials.
Today, there is a bamboo steamer in almost every Chinese family and it is used as often as we use pans and pots. Like many centuries ago, in China, steam baskets are made exclusively by hand.The only difference between modern models and the ancients is that they use metal wire, whereas in ancient China, metal was rarely used because of its high cost.
A bamboo steamer allows you to cook a huge number of tasty and healthy dishes.
As you know, meat or fish, steamed, retain much more nutrients than boiled or fried. Also, a double boiler is convenient to use for heating dishes - the food in it remains juicy. Dishes in this device have a special flavor, which is impossible to achieve with ordinary cooking.
Since the bamboo steamer is still a wooden model, in order for the tree not to absorb various odors, in the birthplace of this invention in China, the bottom of the steamer is carpeted with banana leaves. In Russia and many other countries, this raw material is quite difficult to find, and such leaves are quite expensive. Therefore, many housewives successfully replace them with cabbage and grape leaves, or parchment paper.
How to cook
For cooking, any pan or other dishes that can be put on the stove will do.
Water is poured into it, and a double boiler is installed directly from above. Its bottom is lined with paper or other material, and then the products are laid out in one layer. During cooking, you need to monitor the water level and, if necessary, add it so that the process of vaporization does not stop.
To make the structure more stable, the pan should choose a smaller diameter than the cooking device. The device itself should be positioned so that between the bottom and the layer of water there is a steam space of 2-3 cm. In order to avoid condensation that forms on the stove, the junction of the pot with the steamer should be compacted with something, for example, a piece of gauze.
In the bamboo steamer, you can cook not only meat or fish dishes.
Steamed vegetables are also good. And although the Chinese themselves prefer to fry them, steam vegetables are often present not only in the diet of some housewives, but also in the menu of many fashionable restaurants. In addition, you can cook steamed rice. Since in this article we are talking about a bamboo double boiler, in them the bottom is pre-carpeted with a perforated backing of baking paper or parchment.
To enhance the taste, you can add some spices or herbs to the water: thyme, clove, rosemary and other seasonings that you like. The prepared dish will absorb their flavor along with the absorbed steam. Numerous reviews of fans of food for a couple say that the taste of dishes prepared in this way is simply amazing. Besides the fact that it is tasty, it is also very useful - any nutritionist will confirm this.
Structural features
Bamboo Chinese cooking baskets can be of different sizes. The small model has a bottom diameter of only 15 cm. It is good because the dish cooked in it can be served directly in it. Such models can have several layers. In Russia, most often offer models 2-4 floors. In China, there are instances of 10 or more floors. In order to cook food in them evenly with steam, the products in each basket should be laid along the walls and the middle should be left as free as possible.
Then steam can rise to a height of several levels.
Benefits
Environmental Safety. In the manufacture of this bamboo double boiler used exclusively natural materials.Therefore, the food cooked in it will not have extraneous and harmful to human health impurities.
Power saving. As you know, almost all modern steamers are powered by electricity. Bamboo steamer allows you to cook on gas and even if necessary on the fire.
Food in a steam basket will not leak out and will not “run away”. You can safely fall asleep rice or other cereal, not worrying that the food will burn.
Dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, pies and other dough products will not spread and do not unstuck in a double boiler, even if you cook them for a long time or forget to remove them altogether.
The ability to make individual portions and serve them to the table directly in the same pot in which the food was cooked.
The only condition is to avoid direct contact of food with the basket and make a paper or other layer.
The process of washing a bamboo steamer is not as time consuming as washing other dishes. It is enough just to rinse under running water.
Great gift. The price of smart dishes in the historic homeland is often several times lower than in Russia. Therefore, many tourists bring it from the Middle Kingdom to themselves and friends as a souvenir.In addition, there are chances to buy a real bamboo steamer much higher than here.
disadvantages
The disadvantages of a bamboo steamer include the fact that a wooden container tends to absorb odors, so ideally you need to have separate containers for meat dishes, for fish, and also for vegetables or cereals.
