Meal Preparation with Steamer

Hi folks! 

If you noticed my lunch pack, you may notice that I steam my food a lot. I find it easier and healthier; not to mentioned the more effective use of my time by using steamer. I use my steamer to prepare the following meals/lunch pack: 

1. Hardboiled eggs 
2. Pau, buns, etc 
3. Steam one-pot rice 
4. Sweet Potatoes 
5. Soups (some fast-to-cook soups like ABC soup, miso soup, etc) 
6. Spaghetti (with the right proportion of water and time) 
7. Pasta sauce (can-based plus chunks of tomatoes and other ingredients) 
8. Some nutritious drinks like Lo Han Guo drink 
9. Potatoes to make mash potatoes 
10. Steam egg 
11. Tofu 
12. Carrots, broccoli, asparagus 
13. More to experiment with :) ... 

Today I like to share how I steam my one-pot pumpkin rice for my lunch pack. It's an improvised version from the vegetarian ham rice my elderly auntie used to cook for us using rice cooker. But I am using my food steamer (redeemed with DH's credit card points).

Ingredients:

1. Rice
2. Pumpkin (cut into small cubes)
3. Mixed vege (for the colours)
4. Vegetarian Sausage (sliced) - I bought the non-GMO soymade vegetarian sausage from BMS Organic, or at times i might get the normal vegetarian sausage at those vegetarian supplier like Yolek )
5. Ginger slices/juice
6. Cashew nuts
7. Olive oil/Cooking oil
8. Sesame oil/Butter
9. Seasonings: salt, pepper, soy sauce herbs to taste (sometimes i like to add those rosemary/basil etc herbs for the aromatic flavour)

Put all the ingredients in the container for steaming/metal plate. Add just enough water to cook the rice (for me i add about 1cm of water above the rice. For faster cooking, might opt to put hot boiling water instead). Some people would prefer to fry the pumpkin before cooking, for me I took the shortcut method of cutting it smaller and just cook together.

For my steamer, it will take 40 minutes to steam the rice. Sometimes I will make hard-boiled egg together since the steamer has two layers. Then, once it is cooked, I will add cucumber slices or tomatoes slices for the raw food intake. It goes very well with the rice. And of course sambal/chilli to go along with the rice for adults.

While the rice is steaming, I will do my household chores and other preparation. It saves me time from standing at the gas stove to do the cooking.

For the kids especially, I will add in their favourite Biogreen Pre Balance powder for the extra nutrients.

It has 5-colour food that vitalizes 5 principle organs in our body. Red (Organic Carrot) for heart, Green (Seaweeds) for liver, Yellow (Soy Lecithin, Brewer Yeast, Wheat Germ) for stomach and intestines, White (White Sesame) to strengthen lungs and Black (Black Sesame) for kidneys. Contain variety of vitamins and fibre.

(Source: http://www.organic2u.com.my/index.php?route=product/product&path=70_72&product_id=55)

This is just a simple meal which you can improvise with other ingredients besides pumpkin. For e.g., long beans, yam, sweet potatoes etc.

Cheers to a healthy and fast-to-cooked home-cooked meals!