Pork and pickled cabbage dumplings

Step 1: Mix 16 oz plain flour and ½ tsp salt, add 1 cup cold water a little at a time and knead for 8 minutes into a firm, smooth dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

Step 2: Rinse 12 ½ oz Chinese fermented cabbage (suan cai), chop it very finely, then squeeze it in a clean tea towel until no more liquid drips out. This matters more than anything: wet cabbage makes the filling weep and the wrappers split.

Step 3: On a separate board, put 16 oz fatty minced pork, ½ oz fresh ginger, 1 ½ tbsp light soy sauce, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar and ½ tsp ground white pepper in a large bowl. Stir in one direction with chopsticks, adding ¼ cup cold water or chicken stock a spoonful at a time, until the pork is sticky and has absorbed it all.

Step 4: Put 3 spring onions in a small heatproof bowl on top of the meat. Heat 3 tbsp neutral oil with 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns in a small pan over a low heat for 2–3 minutes until the peppercorns darken and smell toasty, then strain the hot oil straight onto the spring onions.

Step 5: Stir the sizzled spring onions, the squeezed cabbage and 1 tbsp sesame oil into the pork until evenly mixed. Keep the filling in the fridge between batches.

Step 6: Roll the dough into logs and cut into 50 pieces. Roll each into a 7–8 cm round, thinner at the edge.

Step 7: Put a generous teaspoon of filling in each wrapper, fold over and press closed, then pinch a row of small pleats along one side so the dumpling curves like a crescent. Set on a floured tray.

Step 8: Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil and add about 15 dumplings, stirring gently so none stick. When the water returns to the boil, pour in 150 ml of cold water.

Step 9: Let it come back to the boil and add another 150 ml of cold water; repeat a third time. This old Dongbei trick cooks the thick wrapper and pork through without bursting the skins. The dumplings are ready when they float, look puffed and the filling of a test dumpling is firm with no pink, at 160°F (160 °F).

Step 10: Lift out with a slotted spoon and serve straight away with vinegar, garlic and chilli oil. Cook the rest in batches.