Hot and sour wonton soup

Grate the garlic and ginger finely into the ground pork with the diced scallions.

Add the white pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil.

Mix the filling in one direction for a few minutes to develop the texture.

Defrost frozen wrappers in the fridge overnight or on the counter an hour ahead.

Put filling on a wrapper with a chopstick, fold it over, gather the edge and squeeze. It does not need to be precise or fully sealed.

Set the wontons in the fridge.

Saute the minced garlic, diced scallion and minced ginger in the pork lard over medium-low heat a couple of minutes, until slightly golden on the edge.

Add the star anise, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and Sichuan peppercorn and stir a minute until the aromatics are golden brown.

Pour in four cups of water or stock and bring to a boil.

Season with the Chinese black vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and salt to taste.

Toss in a handful of dried seaweed. Set the broth aside.

Boil a pot of water separately, since cooking the wontons in the broth would release starch and make it cloudy.

Swirl the water with a spatula to create a vortex and drop the wontons in, so they flow rather than sinking and sticking.

Keep the heat at medium low and cook 5 minutes; a hard boil breaks the wrappers.

Pour about 2 cups of the sour broth into a serving bowl and add the cooked wontons.

Drizzle in a couple of tablespoons of hot chili oil, optional.

Sprinkle diced scallions and cilantro as garnish.