Cooking on Three Levels with the TM7™: Bowl, Basket and Varoma
Mi gente, here is something I want every new TM7 owner to know: your Thermomix® TM7™ can cook a whole dinner at once, on three levels. Rice simmers in the basket, chicken steams above it and green beans steam on top, all with one setting. No caldero on one burner and a pot of vegetables on the other.
It is only steam and a little planning. Here is how the levels work, what goes on each one, how much water to use, how to tell when it's done and how to open the Varoma safely, plus five Latin dinners from my recipes.
How one bowl of steam cooks three levels
At the Varoma setting, the TM7 keeps the liquid in the mixing bowl boiling hard, and the steam has only one way out: up. It cooks every level on its way.
The mixing bowl holds the water that makes the steam, or a broth, sauce or stew that cooks at the same time. The simmering basket hangs inside the bowl, in the boiling water, so rice, potatoes or yuca simmer in it; you lift it out with the spatula hook and it drains like a colander. The Varoma sits on top of the lid, over the opening where the lid cap goes, with two floors: the deep Varoma dish below and the shallow Varoma tray above, closed with the Varoma lid.
The dish is closest to the steam and gets the most heat; the tray gets gentler steam. That is the whole secret: slow things go low, quick things go high.
What goes where
Use this table as your map.
| Level | Best for | From my kitchen |
|---|---|---|
| Mixing bowl | The steaming water, or a broth, sauce or stew | Broth for hervido, tomatillo salsa, salted water for rice |
| Simmering basket | Food that cooks in boiling water and comes out drained | White rice, potatoes for mash, yuca, plantain |
| Varoma dish (lower) | Slow food and bigger pieces | Chicken breasts, thick salmon fillets, yuca, potatoes, carrots, tamales |
| Varoma tray (upper) | Quick, delicate food | Shrimp, thin fish fillets, salt cod, eggs in their shells, green beans, broccoli, asparagus |
Mira, two more rules. Raw chicken goes in the dish, never on the tray above other food, so its juices drip into the boiling water and not onto your vegetables. And add quick food later: when the first time is up, set the tray in and steam again. My serenata de bacalao steams the yuca alone for 20 minutes, then the salt cod and the eggs join it on the tray. ¡Wepa!
How much water to use
The water in the bowl is your fuel: if it boils away, the steam stops and the food on top stays raw. Use at least 250 g (about 1 cup) of water for every 15 minutes of steaming. Most recipes give it more: 500 g (about 2 cups) for about 15 minutes and 1000 g (about 4 1/4 cups) for 20 minutes or more, like rice in the basket with chicken above it. My tamales steam 70 minutes over 1500 g (about 6 1/3 cups).
Keep the water plus the food in the basket under 2 liters: the bowl holds 2.2 L and boiling water needs room. When the bowl holds a broth or a sauce, that liquid makes the steam, so use the amount the recipe gives.
Setting it up, level by level
- Put the water, broth or sauce in the mixing bowl. A bay leaf, a few garlic cloves or lemon halves add flavor.
- If you use the simmering basket, fill it, hang it in the bowl and close the lid.
- Take off the lid cap: the Varoma sits over that opening, and the steam needs it.
- Fill the Varoma dish in one layer, leaving some slots uncovered so the steam reaches the tray. Set the tray in, also with open slots, and close the Varoma lid.
- Set the Varoma in position and choose the setting, for example steam 22 min/Varoma/speed 2 for rice in the basket. Plain water needs only speed 1, and a stew with pieces goes on reverse: steam 40 min/Varoma/reverse/speed soft. Never go above speed 6 with the Varoma on.
- Times include heating the water, so for a short steam heat it first, like in my shrimp cocktail: heat 6 min/Varoma/speed 1, then steam 8 min/Varoma/speed 1.
Little tricks for big flavor
- Parchment for fish. Delicate fish sticks or breaks. Cut parchment paper a little smaller than the dish or tray, wet it, crumple it and lay it flat so the steam still rises around the edges, or poke a few holes in it. Thick salmon fillets only need a little oil on the dish.
- Season every level. Steam carries a little flavor and the juices drip down, but each level needs its own seasoning: adobo and garlic on the chicken, salt in the rice water, salt or lime on the vegetables. That way every bite is sabroso.
- Don't crowd it. One layer with gaps, and pieces of the same size so they finish together.
- Leave the crunch to the stove. Steam makes food tender, never crisp. Tostones, chicharrón de pollo or pernil with crackling skin belong on the stove or in the oven.
How to tell when it's done
A thermometer tells the truth. Push an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part and use the USDA safe minimum internal temperatures (more in my meat basics guide):
| Food | Done when |
|---|---|
| Chicken and turkey | 74°C (165°F) |
| Fish | 63°C (145°F), or opaque and it flakes easily |
| Shrimp | Pink, pearly and opaque |
| Pork chops and tenderloin | 63°C (145°F), then rest 3 minutes |
| Ground meat | 71°C (160°F) |
| Potatoes, yuca, carrots | A knife slides in easily |
| Rice | Tender, with no hard center |
Not there yet? Set the Varoma on a plate, check through the lid opening that there is still water in the bowl (add 250 g (about 1 cup) hot water if it is low), put the Varoma back and steam a few more minutes.
Opening the Varoma without a steam burn
- Wait until the TM7 stops, or stop it yourself, before you touch the Varoma.
- Lift the Varoma lid tilted away from you, so the steam goes toward the back and not into your face.
- Use oven mitts: the Varoma, its lid and the drips are very hot.
- Lift the Varoma by its handles onto a plate that catches the drips, lid on to keep the food warm.
- Take out the simmering basket with the spatula hook, never your fingers, and keep children and pets away from the countertop.
Five dinners from my kitchen, level by level
Here is how it looks in real life. Each dinner feeds about 4.
- Weeknight Puerto Rican plate. Bowl: 1000 g (about 4 1/4 cups) water and 1 tsp salt. Basket: 200 g (1 cup) long-grain white rice, rinsed. Dish: 600 g (1 1/3 lb) boneless chicken breasts, sliced in half horizontally and rubbed with adobo, garlic and a spoonful of sofrito. Tray: 300 g (2/3 lb) green beans. Steam 25 min/Varoma/speed 2 and check the chicken for 74°C (165°F). Add habichuelas guisadas made earlier. ¡Qué rico!
- Salmon, rice and mango salsa. My steamed salmon with mango salsa makes the salsa in the bowl first, then steams rice in the basket and salmon in the Varoma dish together for 22 minutes. The tray is free for green beans.
- Serenata de bacalao. In this salt cod salad, yuca goes in the dish over 1200 g (about 5 cups) water, steam 20 min/Varoma/speed 1, then the salt cod and the eggs go on the tray, steam 15 min/Varoma/speed 1 more.
- Hervido de gallina. In my Venezuelan chicken and vegetable soup, drumsticks cook in the broth, yuca, potatoes and carrots fill the dish, and corn and calabaza ride on the tray: steam 40 min/Varoma/reverse/speed soft. Reverse keeps the chicken whole.
- Enchiladas verdes. For my enchiladas verdes, tomatillos, onion, garlic and serranos cook in the bowl while the chicken steams above them, steam 25 min/Varoma/speed 1. Then the bowl blends the salsa and shreds the chicken, and the oven does the rest.
Oven busy? In my meatloaf dinner, potatoes cook in the basket for the mash and green beans steam in the Varoma while the meatloaf bakes.
Start with one level, then add the basket and the tray, poquito a poco. Soon a whole dinner will come out of one machine, and that is a big part of why the TM7 is my favorite kitchen tool. If I learned to cook, you can too. ¡Buen provecho!
Adapted with permission from Life With Thermomix, the blog of Beatriz Tarrega, a Thermomix® advisor in the United Kingdom, and rewritten for American kitchens.
