Pork gyoza with soy-vinegar dipping sauce

Grind white peppercorns in a mortar, then pound in garlic and unpeeled ginger to a fine paste.

Separate Napa cabbage stems from leaves; julienne then finely dice the stems, and cut the leaves into thin ribbons, cutting across once more; keep them separate.

Trim the root ends from garlic chives and finely chop the flat leaves.

Saute the garlic-ginger-pepper paste over medium-low heat a couple of minutes until fragrant and starting to turn golden.

Add the cabbage stems and some salt and cook four or five minutes until wilted.

Add the leaves and cook a couple of minutes; turn off the heat and leave in the pan to cool and dry.

Season fatty ground pork with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, a little sugar, a little tapioca starch and dashi powder.

Knead the pork about five minutes until smooth, sticky and pasty.

Mix in the garlic chives and the cooled cabbage just until combined.

Microwave a little of the filling up to 30 seconds to taste the seasoning and adjust.

Wrap: wet the wrapper edge (or the whole sheet for pleating), add a coffee spoon of filling, pinch the middle and seal, bending or pleating into a crescent.

Cook the dumplings within a couple of hours or freeze them in one layer.

Line the dumplings up in a cold oiled nonstick skillet, heat and fry until the bottoms brown, three to four minutes.

Add about a quarter cup of water, turn the heat down, cover and steam about three minutes, up to five from frozen.

Check doneness with an instant read thermometer: at least 160 internal.

Cook off any remaining water, then flip out onto a plate to show the browned bottoms.

For the dipping sauce, mix soy sauce with equal parts rice vinegar and add raiu chili oil.