Steaming Vegetables
Fresh vegetables have numerous essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. While most vegetables can be eating raw, usually they are cooked by boiling, baking or steaming. Boiling vegetables leaches many nutrients that are discarded with the water.
Steaming is a great way to cook most vegetables. Because steaming is gentler than boiling, it allows the vegetables to retain more of their shape, color, texture, flavor, and nutrition. It’s also not very simply and doesn’t require fancy or expensive equipment.
Make sure the water in your pan doesn’t touch the bottom of the steaming container. Bring the water to a boil before adding the vegetables to the basket. Cover and cook until the vegetables reach the desired texture. Make sure the water doesn’t boil away; add more boiling water to the pan as necessary.
You can over cook your vegetables by steaming, so use a kitchen timer and check after the minimum cooking time. Cooking times will vary depending on the quantity, quality and age of the vegetables.
You can use this downloadable PDF table of approximate cooking times.
Click for Step-by-Step YouTube video.