One of the traditional ways of cooking rice in China is in a zengzi, a bamboo or wooden steamer. The rice is boiled for a few minutes to ‘break its rawness’, then tipped into a zengzi and steamed until cooked. In the countryside, it was common to cook other food over the rice, inside the zengzi. One way of doing this is to place the cut ingredients with oil and seasonings in a bowl, then lay the bowl directly on the rice, or on a bamboo frame suspended over it. Another