Food | Healthy Eating Steam Oven Style

I've been invited to check out the latest gadget for the kitchen by the gang at Miele: the steam oven. A cross between a microwave and the hob, a steam oven works by creating steam eternally then blasting it in to the area with your food (known as the cavity) when it reaches the temperature you've set it to. This means you can make the perfect soft dippy egg in just 4 minutes. And because the technology works on density not volume one egg takes four minutes and sixty eggs take four minutes. Impressive. 

Miele Steam Oven

Not an egg fan in the morning - maybe you're a porridge obsessive? I'm reliably informed that porridge is the best in the steam oven. Put your normal cereal bowl in at 100 degrees for 10 minutes. One bowl is the same as 5 bowls so you can make batches for the whole family in one go. Plus features like the delayed start mean you can put your porridge in before you go to sleep and it will be ready when you wake up. Mind blown. But not your porridge: because it's such a gentle way of cooking there isn't the same chance of your porridge blowing up unlike the microwave. Honestly, I can feel my life being revolutionised already.

As we strive to find new ways to be healthy in our fast paced society, the steam oven might be a real answer. Banishing the need for ready meals and cutting down cooking time on many things this really could revolutionise the way you cook and the way you cook healthy. Because of the gentle cooking method, more flavour is retained in what you cook so there is no need to add fats in the form of butter or oil. For a great, healthy dinner how about Goan Salmon with rice (recipe below)? 

The ovens themselves range in terms of ability and, the unfortunate catch, price. While the freestanding steam ovens - which I believe to be the future replacement for the microwave - start at around £700, the built in ones range from £1000 to over £3000. If you've got money to splash on a new kitchen but are a bit of a cooking novice then the top of the range ones have some impressive functions like automatic programmes where you can select three items you wish to cook and it will calculate the temperatures and timings for you. So you could do chicken, brown rice and tenderstem broccoli for a nutritious, healthy super without the stress of not knowing how or when to cook things. For the novice cook who has never ventured further than a ready meal this has to be the first step to healthy home cooked meals without the stress of not being a confident cook.

Goan Salmon with rice and cucumber raita

Using a Miele Steam Oven - Serves 4

Ingredients

4 salmon fillets

Ingredients

For the recheado paste
4 red chillies, deseeded and chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp ground turmeric

¼ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 lime, juiced

For the cucumber raita
150ml natural yoghurt

1 cucumber, grated

Small bunch of mint, chopped

1 tsp salt

200g white basmati rice

How to make it

1. Combine all the ingredients for the recheado paste in the jug of a blender, process to a smooth paste, and rub all over the salmon. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes, but no more than 4 hours.

2.     Place the rice in a solid container and cook on the top shelf of the steam oven at 100° for 10 minutes.

3.     In the meantime, squeeze as much water as possible from the cucumber and mix with the rest of the raita ingredients, check the seasoning and set aside.

4.     Put the salmon fillets on a perforated container and steam alongside the rice for 4 minutes at 85°.

5.     Heat up 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan over a medium high heat, and once the cooking time has elapsed, add the salmon fillets and pan fry very quickly, for no more than 30 seconds on each side. Serve together with the rice and raita

Goan Salmon with rice and cucumber raita

All dishes cooked in a Miele steam oven