Adding too much or too little water

When steaming food in a basket over boiling water in a pot, the food should never come into contact with the actual water, only the vapor of the steam that is coming off it. So you never want to add too much water, but you also don't want to add so little that it evaporates before your food is properly steamed. The water should be one to two inches below the basket, but the basket's bottom should not graze the water's surface.

The same holds true if you intend to steam while sautéing. Put some water or broth in a sauté pan and cover it with a lid to steam. There should be just enough liquid to hit the hot pan and evaporate into steam, but not so much that the food in the pan is drowned.