What kind of container can you use for steaming? Steamed cutlets without a steamer - cooking recipes

Steamed vegetables are a nutritious and quick to prepare dish. There are several ways to prepare them, and you don't need any special utensils to do it. You can prepare a delicious, nutritious and colorful dinner using a steamer, a saucepan with a lid or a microwave.

Steps

Selection and preparation of vegetables

Choose your vegetables. While almost any vegetable can be steamed, some are better suited than others, and they all require different amounts of time. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, artichokes and green beans are easy to steam and work well with this method. However, if you want to get creative, add some potatoes or radishes! Here are the steaming times for some vegetables:

Divide vegetables according to cooking time. Since some vegetables take longer to steam than others, it is advisable to separate them. As a result, you won't end up with some vegetables becoming overcooked and too soft, while others remain tough and soggy in the middle. You can cook different vegetables together, but sometimes you should separate them in the steamer so that you can easily remove the vegetables that cook faster.

• For example, potatoes take much longer to steam than green beans, so it's best not to steam them together.
• To make dense vegetables cook faster, you can cut them into smaller pieces.

Cooking vegetables in a steamer

Heat water in a double boiler. Pour 2 cups (0.5 liters) of water into the steamer and bring it to a boil over high heat. When the water begins to boil, close the steamer so that the desired temperature is established inside.

• To close the steamer, simply place the lid on the top pan that rests on the bottom pan filled with water.
• Steamers may require different amounts of water, depending on the size of the pans. As a rule, the water should cover the bottom of the lower pan by 2.5–5 centimeters and should not reach the vegetables located in the basket.

1. Place vegetables in the steamer. Once the water begins to boil and emit steam, add the prepared vegetables to it. After this, cover the steamer again and reduce the heat to medium.

   • If you're steaming more than one type of vegetable, remember that they cook at different rates, so be sure to separate them into separate groups so you can more easily reach the already-cooked vegetables.
   • To protect your hands from the hot steam, transfer the vegetables to a bowl rather than placing them in the steamer with your hands. You can also wear oven mitts or cover your hands with a kitchen towel.

   Did you know? There are many different types of steamers available on the market. Some have multiple steaming compartments, making it easy to separate fast and slow-cooking vegetables.

   Let the vegetables steam for a few minutes. Once you place the vegetables in the steamer, cover it with a lid and wait a few minutes. Wait the minimum recommended time before you start checking the vegetables.

   • If you're not sure you can judge the time correctly, set a timer. Most quick-cooking vegetables can be checked in about three minutes.

2. Poke the vegetables with a knife or fork to check if they are done. After the minimum recommended time has passed, open the steamer and pierce the thickest parts of the vegetables with a knife or fork. If a knife or fork goes into them easily, they are ready. Otherwise, cook them for another 1-2 minutes, then check again.

   • Smaller pieces will cook faster than larger pieces, and some vegetables will cook faster than others. For example, green beans, cauliflower florets and asparagus spears cook faster than potatoes or uncut small carrots.

3. Remove only those vegetables that have become soft. If you are dealing with different vegetables or pieces of different sizes, remove those that are ready and leave the rest in the steamer. To remove vegetables from the steamer without getting burned, use tongs or a slotted spoon. Place the cooked vegetables in a plate and cover to keep them warm.

   Season and serve vegetables. Transfer all cooked vegetables to a serving dish. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. You can also sprinkle lemon juice on the vegetables for extra flavor. Now the vegetables can be served.

   • Steamed vegetables go well with any meat and can be served with cheese or green sauce, or without anything. Steamed vegetables are very healthy, so it's best not to add too much seasoning - they're delicious and nutritious on their own!

   Using a saucepan with a lid

   1. Take a deep saucepan that will fit all the vegetables you have chosen. It should be large enough to accommodate all the vegetables. In addition, the pan should have a tight-fitting lid that will trap steam. It is best to use a pan that you can fill ¾ full with vegetables, and at the same time there will be room on top for steam and condensation settling under the lid.

      Pour water into the pan until it covers the bottom by about 1.5 centimeters. This will be enough to create steam, but the vegetables will not cook in the water and the nutrients will not be washed out of them. In addition, a thin layer of water will prevent the vegetables from burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan.

      • If the lid does not fit tightly to the pan and does not retain steam well, you will need a little more water. Try using different amounts of water and see what works best for your pan.

   2. Arrange the vegetables in the pan according to their cooking time. If you are dealing with multiple types of vegetables, place vegetables that take longer to cook in the bottom of the pan. Place vegetables that cook faster on top. In this case, you can easily get ready-made vegetables first.

      • For example, you can put a layer of potatoes at the very bottom, then place cauliflower, and put asparagus on top.

   3. Cover the pan with a lid and place it over medium-high heat. Once you've added the vegetables to the pot, cover it tightly with a lid and turn on the heat. It shouldn't be too strong. Touch the lid occasionally to check the temperature. If the lid becomes too hot to the touch, the water has boiled and released steam.

      • Resist the urge to lift the lid and check if there is enough steam inside the pan, otherwise you will release the heat and ruin the cooking process.
      • If you're worried about burning your fingers on the hot lid, get a saucepan with a glass lid through which you can watch the water boil and evaporate. If necessary, you can momentarily move the lid slightly and check if steam is coming out from under it.

   4. Turn the heat to low and set the timer for the recommended time. When the water starts to steam, turn the heat to low. Cook vegetables for the minimum amount of time recommended for their type and size, then insert a knife into the thickest parts to check.

      • Vegetables should be soft, but quite elastic. In addition, they should have a shiny and bright appearance.
      • If the vegetables need more time, re-cover the pot and wait 1-2 minutes, then check again.

   5. Remove vegetables from heat and serve. When the vegetables are ready, remove them from the pan and serve them however you like. For example, you can pour a creamy sauce over the vegetables or add olive oil and a little seasoning. Eat vegetables on their own or serve them as a side dish to your main course.

      • To protect your hands, remove vegetables from pan using tongs or a slotted spoon. If all the vegetables are ready at the same time, you can take the pan with oven mitts and pour its contents into a colander.
      • If the vegetables are cooking at different rates, you may need to transfer the faster-cooking vegetables to a sealed container to keep them warm until the others are cooked.

      Advice: Chances are there won't be much water left in the pan when the vegetables are done. Otherwise, you can add the remaining water to vegetable broth or even water your indoor plants - they will benefit from the nutrients it contains!

When steamed, cutlets are not just tasty. They are also extremely useful due to the fact that due to the absence of fat in this method of heat treatment of the dish, it will contain significantly less harmful cholesterol and calories. On the contrary, it will be possible to preserve many times more vitamins and other nutrients than with a different method of preparation.

This food has one more advantage: it is suitable for the diet of people of virtually any age. It can also be enjoyed by children who are just beginning to get used to eating dishes from the common table, as well as those who are sick and must be on a special diet. As a rule, doctors do not prohibit steaming cutlets in such situations and often even recommend them - to saturate a weakened body with proteins.

However, some link the creation of the above dish to the presence of a special device in the house - a double boiler. There are those who believe that in the absence of such a device it will be very difficult to find an adequate replacement for it. This approach is incorrect because in reality there are several ways to make steamed cutlets without a steamer.

One of the simplest methods known to a considerable number of housewives is the use of a flat-bottomed colander or sieve along with a sufficiently capacious saucepan with a lid. The latter should be slightly larger in diameter than the first, but such that they do not fall into it, but are held at the top.

The pan must be filled with enough liquid. However, its level, even when boiling, should be left just below the bottom of the sieve or colander. The dish is steamed, not boiled! However, you should not allow the liquid to completely boil away.

You can make cutlets according to any suitable recipe. For example, from half a kilogram of meat, a quarter of a white loaf pre-soaked in a glass of milk, one onion, an egg and spices. Traditionally, all components are passed through a meat grinder, and not very large balls are formed from the resulting mass.

The cutlets should be placed in a sieve or colander so that a small distance is maintained between them. Next, the vessel must be placed on top of a pan with boiling liquid and covered with a lid. Reducing the heat slightly (to medium), you need to cook the food for about 30-40 minutes. To determine readiness, break one cutlet. The meat inside it should be uniform in color, and the flowing juice should be transparent.

For other methods of creating steam cutlets, a metal sieve is also useful. In addition to this, you will need pans of various sizes, a piece of gauze at least 50x50 cm, twine and a grill grate from the microwave.

Pour water into one of the saucepans, whose diameter is about 20-25 cm, and cover everything with gauze, tying it tightly with twine. The fabric then needs to be pushed down a little to form a kind of hemisphere. After boiling water, place the cutlets on cheesecloth and, covering the pan with a lid, cook the dish for 35-40 minutes.

Instead of gauze, you can try placing a special rounded grill stand inside a pan of suitable diameter. Heat treatment of cutlets on it usually lasts about 40 minutes.

In each case, you need to ensure that the lid on top tightly closes the pan. Otherwise, the cooking time for steam cutlets will be increased - up to 60 minutes, or even more.

This dish will differ from its fried version in the absence of a golden brown crust. At the same time, however, it will be much juicier and more tender in taste.

Today, more and more people are switching to proper and healthy eating. If you are one of them, then you have often come across various recipes for steamed dishes. But unfortunately, not everyone can afford to purchase an electric device for steaming food, so sooner or later the question may arise:

In Soviet times, cooks got used to steaming almost all dishes without a steamer: chicken and meat cutlets, vegetables and fish, casseroles and much more. As a result of this heat treatment, the dishes are low-calorie, ideal for small children and people on a diet. Therefore, below you will see how to replace a steamer at home.

The most affordable option is to cover a pan of the required diameter with gauze folded in several layers. Securely secure the ends of the gauze (you can use an elastic band for this purpose) and hide them inside the pan. Cover the pan with a lid or a basin of suitable diameter. This way you can cutlets and vegetables.

If you don’t have gauze on hand, you can use two pans of different diameters (choose either enameled or stainless steel dishes). Place fish, cutlets or vegetables (pre-cut the way you like) into a small saucepan and add a small amount of broth or water.

In a large saucepan, pre-boil water (fill about a third or half a saucepan of water, depending on the size of the smaller container) and place a small saucepan over the boiling water. Now cover everything with a lid and cook your dish until done. This is the easiest way how to replace a steamer at home.

Instead of gauze or a small saucepan, you can use a colander. In this way, you can steam rice, vegetables, fish or steam cutlets without a steamer for about twenty minutes to half an hour (depending on the chosen meat and fish).

Steamed vegetables cook very quickly: in ten to twenty minutes you will get a tasty and healthy dish with a minimum of lost vitamins and minerals.

Fish must be eaten at least once a week. The product will be more useful if you steam it. Such dishes are not only tasty, but also low in calories, they do not contain oil, so they do not harm our body! Not everyone has a steamer in their home, and not all multicookers have the function of steaming dishes. How to steam food without a steamer? In fact, there are several ways, and we will be happy to share them with you! Also in this article you will find recipes for steamed fish without a steamer. With the help of our tips, you can cook not only pieces of fish, but also cutlets, and also create a complete dish at once - fish with a side dish.

How to steam without a steamer or multicooker?

With the help of simple tricks, you can prepare a healthy steamed dish without the use of modern technology. All you need is a gas or electric stove and a deep saucepan.

How to steam fish without a steamer? You can create a steamer from scrap items. The ideal way would be:

1. Pour some water into the pan.
2. Place a metal colander in the pan and place pieces of fish or fish cutlets into it.

If you don’t have a metal colander, you can simply use a piece of gauze that is secured in the pan. You can tie this piece by the handles, put the fish in it, cover the pan with a lid and cook.

If the colander has large holes, and you want to cook fish with a side dish, for example, rice, then you can put cheesecloth on top of the colander.

Steamed fish with lemon

To prepare this dish, you can use any fish, but the recipe calls for hake. This contains many useful substances and proteins. Steamed hake is also a healthy food that is suitable for dietary nutrition. The side dish can be absolutely anything - vegetable salad, stewed vegetables, boiled or mashed potatoes, cereals.

Ingredients for steamed fish:

• 500-600 grams of fillet of any fish, but hake is better;
• big lemon;
• a little sunflower oil;
• salt and seasonings.

Steamed fish without a steamer is very easy to prepare; we showed you how this can be done using the means at hand. To prepare this recipe, it is advisable to use a colander, but cheesecloth will also work if you stretch it well.

Preparation:

1. Cut the fish into portions, rub with seasonings and salt.
2. Place the colander in a saucepan filled with water so that it does not reach the colander even when boiling.
3. Grease a colander with a small amount of sunflower oil to prevent the pieces from sticking.
4. Place the fish and place a slice of lemon on each piece.

Steaming fish without a steamer will take 30 minutes. At this time, it is advisable not to open the lid.

Steamed fish with vegetables

To cook steamed fish immediately with a side dish, you don’t need to have a steamer or multicooker at home! We suggest considering a dish consisting of sea bass and various vegetables. You can use either a ready-made vegetable mixture or one you create yourself from your favorite vegetables!

Ingredients:

• one sea bass;
• cauliflower or broccoli;
• bell pepper;
• leaf salad;
• asparagus;
• lemon;
• allspice and salt.

The preparation is very simple:

1. Cut the perch into pieces, first gutting and removing the scales.
2. Rub each piece with salt and allspice.
3. Grease a colander with a small amount of sunflower oil and place pieces of fish on it. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
4. Place chopped vegetables on top of the fish; they should also be lightly salted.
5. Steam for 30-35 minutes.

When serving, you can add fresh tomatoes to your plates!

Steamed fish with rice

How to cook steamed fish without a steamer, and even with a side dish of rice? Women's cunning has always helped housewives in the kitchen, so we'll use it! We will prepare a hearty, tasty and healthy dish for the whole family, spending a minimum of time.

Ingredients:

• any fish - according to the number of servings;
• a glass of rice;
• pickled corn;
• salt and seasonings.

Preparation:

1. The rice needs to be soaked and freed from starch.
2. Cut the fish into steaks, removing the bones. Salt and season each piece, leave to soak for 10-15 minutes.
3. Place cheesecloth in a colander, lay rice on top of it in an even layer, and add a little salt.
4. Place the fish on the rice, preferably so that the steaks completely cover the rump.
5. Steam for thirty to forty minutes until the rice is completely cooked.

The rice will taste amazing, because it will be saturated with fish aroma and seasonings. When serving on plates, place pickled corn on the edge, it will be very tasty!

Steamed catfish in cranberry sauce

Catfish is an oily fish, and not everyone will like it fried. It is much tastier and healthier to steam this fish. You already know how to cook without a double boiler. Now we invite you to get acquainted with an amazingly simple recipe for making catfish. But the taste of the dish will be incredibly bright!

Ingredients:

• medium-sized catfish;
• a glass of cranberries;
• one lemon;
• salt;
• several sprigs of rosemary;
• allspice.

Preparation:

1. Remove the peel from the lemon. Place the lemon and cranberries in a blender and puree. If you don’t have a blender, then pass through a meat grinder, or mash with a fork. Salt - a teaspoon of salt is enough, add allspice.
2. Divide the catfish into steaks, place in the marinade, and leave to soak for an hour.
3. Place the fish pieces in a colander and place it in the pan. Place rosemary sprigs on top of steaks. Cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes from the moment the water boils.

Boiled rice or mashed potatoes are most suitable as a side dish, since the taste of these dishes is neutral, and it will not overpower the aroma and taste of steamed catfish in cranberry-lemon sauce.

Sturgeon with sauce

Let's steam the king fish and serve it with a delicious sauce! This dish is suitable not only for dinner with the family, but also for serving at the holiday table.

The following ingredients will be required:

• sturgeon - half a kilo;
• lemon;
• olives or olives without bones;
• dry white wine - five spoons;
• 100 grams of butter;
• a tablespoon of flour;
• Provencal herbs;
• salt;
• allspice.

Cooking fish:

1. Cut the sturgeon into pieces, add salt and pepper. Place in a greased colander.
2. Place chopped olives on top of the pieces and pour wine over them.
3. Steam the fish for 30 minutes.

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the flour in it.
2. As soon as the flour turns brown, pour half a glass of broth from the pan in which the sturgeon was steamed into the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring.
3. Add Provencal herbs or fresh herbs, squeeze lemon juice, stir. If necessary, you can add a little salt, but the sauce should be salty, since the broth from cooking the fish was added to it.

When serving, pour the resulting sauce over the fish.

Steamed fish cutlets

Steaming cutlets is no more difficult than just pieces of fish. If you are tired of fried foods, then try making steamed cutlets from any of your favorite fish.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of fish fillet;
• bulb;
• carrot;
• egg;
• salt and pepper.

Now let’s make delicious, juicy cutlets from these products!

1. The fillet needs to be minced in a meat grinder along with the peeled onion.
2. Boil the carrots, cut into smaller cubes, add to the minced fish.
3. Mix the minced meat with the egg, salt and pepper.
4. Grease the surface of the colander with oil, place the formed cutlets, rolling them in flour. Cook for 20 minutes.

You can use whatever your heart desires as a side dish! It can be boiled cereal or potatoes, mashed potatoes, a mixture of boiled vegetables or a fresh salad.

Conclusion

We shared secrets and recipes with which you can steam fish without a steamer at home. Now you know that steamed dishes can be not only healthy, but also very tasty. The recipes published in this article will help diversify your table!

Sometimes you want something so badly that you just can't ignore it. You will not rest until you bring your plans to life. And that is great!

But, alas, it also happens that an idea cannot be implemented even after numerous attempts. Know that this is not a reason to give up and despair; in this case, you need to turn on your imagination and creativity.

Imagine that you really wanted to try a dish prepared for a couple. To do this, just use a regular or bamboo steamer.

You don’t know what bamboo is, where to get it and what to do with it? It doesn’t matter, not everyone has this device in their kitchen. And this absolutely does not mean that you should forget about such a desirable dish. You can make a double boiler from scrap materials. For this purpose, a deep and aluminium foil.

How to make a double boiler with your own hands?

Instead of balls, you can use a thick foil ring. This way you can steam meat, fish and vegetables. The most important thing is to prevent water from getting into the plate.

Under the lid, the temperature is distributed evenly, but you need to keep in mind that there must be several holes in the lid for the improvised steamer to work correctly.