Electric food steamers.

I have been meaning to get a proper steamer ever since I moved out. At first I just opted for one of those bamboo steamers. I got one. An 8 inch one, I believe. And whenever I tried to make steam buns, I would have to spend hours in the kitchen steaming probably three buns at a time for dozens of them. So I've been avoiding making steam buns for the longest time. And then whenever I had to steam something that had to be in a bowl or plate, I had no bowls or plates that would fit in the bamboo steamer. So what I ended up doing, was putting it in the rice cooker and hoping it'll work. Which never does. I'd get partially cooked- whatever it is- that I'm making. I finally had some room in my budget to get a proper steamer. I was expecting to get one of those huge pot things with 3-5 tiers that go on top. But then I came across an electric steamer. It was actually the first time I've seen these. I feel so out of date. But I really regret not having bought this sooner. It is literally my life now. I love it so much.

It has a base, where the water goes in, and a turbo steam function that makes the water boil/steam almost immediately. I plug it in and turn it on, and after probably 5 seconds, it would be steaming already. Which saves so much time of having a huge pot of water and waiting for it to boil. Also it has a digital clock on it and a timer. So when its done steaming, it will beep and turn to the "Keep warm" function. Like a rice cooker. So now not only do I not have to wait forever for the water to boil, I don't have to be hovering around it forever waiting for my food to be ready and checking to make sure there is enough water inside. (When it runs dry, it will beep to let you know and turn itself off!) It also has a delay timer, so I can set it to start steaming whenever I want, so for example if I want something ready to eat right when I get home from school, I can set it to start 15 minutes or so before I expect to be home.

The steamer looks something like this:

Although this isn't the exact one that I got, it is very similar to it.

And of course, I immediately had to make steam buns with it, which I will post a recipe for in a bit.