Poh's Pork and Cabbage Dumplings

Serves 2 for a meal Note: If you don't have wheat starch, the traditional way is to use 1 cup plain flour but follow the same method.

Dumpling Skins: Place flour and wheat starch in a bowl. Pour a small amount of hot water into the flour and starch mix, and stir with a fork until you can tip it onto the bench top and knead into a firmish, smooth ball. If it feels a little sticky, add a small amount of equal plain flour and wheat starch and mix to the dough. Wrap in cling wrap and rest for an hour.

Dumpling Filling: Mix salt with cabbage and allow to sit for 15 minutes so salt can draw liquid out of the cabbage. Wash cabbage briefly before squeezing to remove as much liquid as possible. You should end up with a heaped ½ cup of cabbage. Mix together with remaining ingredients until everything is incorporated.

To make dumplings, sprinkle dough with some plain flour and roll into sausages with a diameter the size of a 20c coin. Cut into 1cm thick disks and flatten with the palm of your hand. Roll out to 1mm thick.

Spoon a teaspoonful of the filling onto the centre of the wrapper. Fold over to enclose and crimp edges to seal (this will give the dumpling an attractive crescent shape and let it sit nicely). There are two ways you can cook these. Firstly, you can just boil them in plenty of salt water. When they float, allow them to cook for a further 10 seconds, then scoop out with a slotted spoon into a colander. If you want a crispy bottomed finish, position the dumplings neatly in a frypan filled with about 1cm of water and a dash of peanut oil. Cover and allow the dumplings to steam for about 8-10 minutes. When all the water evaporates, the little bit of oil that remains will help crisp up the bottom. Serve immediately with spice dipping sauce.

Spicy Dipping Sauce: Mix all the ingredients together and serve with dumplings.