Vegetable variety

[Caribbean girl]

Do you steam a great variety of vegetables at one time, or do you just steam 2 or 3 different varieties at a time?

I tend to steam about 3 or 4 varieties at one time. I also like to see a variety of colour, so if I am doing beans, brocolli and spinach,, I would also add carrots or pumpkin to the mix. If I happen to do only 2 vegetables at any time, then they would be 2 different colour types. It would sometimes depend on what I have available in the house at the time also.

 

[ChanellG]

It depends - if I have rice I may just steam broccoli to go with whatever the main dish is. Sometimes I'll do two or more vegetables, but if I'm doing a lot of variety I'm usually either roasting or sauteing. Some things don't steam well like asparagus or green beans and I'll blanch those. I would never steam squash either because it has so much water already.

 

[Caribbean girl]

When cooking these varieties, we also have to bear in mind that some vegetables steam faster than others. Brocolli, for instance, would only take about 5 or 6 minutes to steam, while carrots take a lot longer. I generally put in my carrots first before any other vegetable. The brocolli and spinach would go in when the other vegetables are already half cooked. Brocolli gets mushy if steamed for too long.

 

[Berties]

as some of the above reply different veg taken different amounts of cooking,some veg is better cooked in boiling water i.e. fine beans ,cauliflower and to me spinach should be saluted or a quick wilt
on a commercial basis we pre cook veg in a steamer then refresh in cold water then as required we plunge back in hot water then toss in a seasoned butter or sesame oil
some vegetables suit roasting ,i.e. marrow or sqash,parsnip even carrot enjoys being roasted

 

[Food4thought]

When boiling, steaming or sauteing, I generally cook several different types of vegetables together, adding the softer ones when the harder ones have partially cooked. This makes good sense because it saves on fuel and there are fewer pans to wash afterwards. I also reuse the water, which contains nutrients from all the veg that have been cooked in it, to make a pouring sauce or soup.

 

[DancingLady]

I steam whatever I have on hand together. I don't mind adding things to the same pot as some may take longer than others. I like to cut down on how many pots and pans have to be washed and vegetables usually end up all mixed together when they are dished up anyway, so there's no reason why they can't be cooked all together.

 

[Rosyrain]

The only veggies that I really steam are brocolli, cauliflower, and sometimes carrots. The rest of the vegetables I make are roasted or sauteed in a pan. I find that steaming veggies makes them bland in most cases, and so I try to avoid it whenever possible. My mom used to steam all sorts of veggies, and I guess I just got sick of the flavor and smell.