Bamboo steamers are great for steaming food. The texture of the bamboo allows steam to circulate and evaporate so that less moisture will form on the inside of the lid. Steamers are normally placed over boiling water rather than to start steaming over cold water. Some Chinese like to boil water in a wok then stack bamboo steamers over the wok, with the food needing the most steaming being placed on the bottom, with ones needing less steaming on top.

Arrange food to be steamed in a flat heat-proof dish or foil pie pan before placing it in the steamer. To be creative, instead of heat-proof dishes, you can place lettuce or bok choy leaves directly on the steamer. Then place food on top of the leaves.

Add water until it just touches the bottom of the first bamboo layer. Then stack as many sections of your bamboo steamer, one on top of the other, with as many food courses as you wish to prepare. At the end of the steaming process, you will end up with a delicious soup stock in the bottom of the pot. I usually add some herbs to my water. The type of herb depends on what I am cooking. I tend to steam all my vegetables even if I am not cooking an oriental meal.