Perfect Stove Top Steamed Rice 蒸米飯

In the past I have always been astonished that people would want to steam rice in a pot instead of using a rice cooker.  Why, I would wail, would anyone want to add more work into cooking a Chinese dinner!  After all, if you wash your rice out well and are careful with the measurements, your rice cooker cooked pot of rice is a beautiful thing.  

However, recently we decided to try to Cook Steamed Rice on the Stove 完美的蒸米飯 and I realized at the moment I first tasted the perfect, perfect steamed white rice, that it was soooo worth that little bit of extra effort!

Handmade Bamboo Steamer 手作竹蒸籠

Have I mentioned that we love bamboo?  Yes...well, let me say it again anyways:  We love bamboo!  Slowly but surely we have switched over to bamboo for most of the cooking utensils for our little kitchen, at least all those that are available in bamboo.  Our chopping boards, our spatulas, our chopsticks, our steamers...

A strong, light, durable, inexpensive, mold resistant (much more so than wood!), heat resistant, wildly beautiful material, bamboo's use in Chinese cooking is crowned by this: the wonderful fragrance and taste it subtly infuses when you cook with it!  Once you've tried it there's no going back, you'll be hooked.  Recently, in need of new bamboo steamers, we decided to make a little pilgrimage and procure ourselves a true Hong Kong handmade bamboo steamer!