Fill the bottom of the pot with a few inches of water, load the trivet or the cooling rack with your ingredients, and place your makeshift "steamer basket" into the pan. Steam as usual.

The steam pot restaurant trend is thought to have originated in Guangdong before spreading to Hong Kong and Singapore in the past decade. It appears to have first arrived in the Bay Area around ...

It comes with a pot base with a capacity of 1.7 quarts, deep enough to boil or sauté. Although it’s a compact appliance, it’s generous enough to cook two cups of dry rice.