Question
KAREN SOO
I have a bamboo steam basket and Instant Pot. When would you use bamboo rather than stainless steel basket in the Instant Pot and vice versa? What do you prefer to line the bamboo basket with?
Answer
So, very quickly, for those of you out here that may not have used an Instant Pot before, it is a brand of a multi-cooker. And as a multi-cooker, it's got a few different functions. For example, they can sauté, they can steam, they can slow cook, they can pressure cook, and probably some other things too. They're quite versatile. You can prepare a cake, a stew, a soup. You can cook things very quickly. You can cook things over an extended period of hours. So there's a lot of different approaches to cooking that you can do in one of these electric multifunction appliances. And a popular one is the Instant Pot. So, back to Karen's question about using a bamboo steamer versus a stainless steel steamer basket. So, I'll first say that the overlap is present, right? So you can use either one of these things for certain things, depending on how you want to approach it. Now, the stainless steel basket, which in my experience is going to be one large basket that would fit inside the Instant Pot liner or the inner pot. And that is convenient for let's say larger quantities of things that you maybe want to do. Also, the bamboo steamer can work in two different ways. If you have a small enough steamer that you can actually put it inside the Instant Pot, and you can work with the multi-layers, often three layers, with a bamboo steamer. Another way you can use a bamboo steamer is to set it on top of the Instant Pot. So it would actually come up off the top, and you got to still have the lid on it. And so you're really just replacing that stovetop pot of water, where you would set the bamboo steamer on top. So it looks kind of funny, but that's one way to do that. Of course, at that point, you're using that saute sear function inside the pot down below with adequate water to generate the steam that you need. Okay? And, so the bamboo steamer will impart a small amount of aroma. Okay? And arguably, the aroma adds more to the ambiance of the kitchen and your dining area. But aesthetically, right, give that a try and see if you like that. What would I line the bamboo steamer layers with? Leaves. I usually have a packet in the freezer of bamboo. I'm sorry, not bamboo, of banana leaves. And the banana leaves can work well. Also, round, well, it doesn't have to be round, but pieces of parchment paper. Round parchment can fit very nicely, but if you have little pieces of parchment leftover, you can just use those however you need to inside the bamboo section, and that works well to line the basket. Lettuce leaves work well. Any sort of greens, I should say, that have a larger solid surface. So, I've used collards, I've used iceberg lettuce, and kale of different sorts. So there's a lot of different options out there to line the bamboo basket. So, give those a try and see what you prefer in different situations, both in the bamboo versus stainless steel question and the what would I line the bamboo steamer with question, and you'll come up with some solutions that work best for you. Thank you.
