Steamed meat cake with shiitake

Soak three dried shiitake in cool water at least four hours or overnight; squeeze out, snip off the stems and reserve the soaking liquid.

Dice two of the shiitake and cut the third into eight slices; marinate both with the sugar, soy sauce and white pepper powder, keeping slices and dice separate.

Finely dice the pork fat and set aside.

Mince the lean pork by hand, chopping three to four minutes and folding the meat over itself periodically until sticky and uniform.

Put the meat in a bowl with the salt and mix hard for about 30 seconds.

Work in the shiitake soaking liquid one tablespoon at a time, mixing 30 seconds after each, for five tablespoons in all.

Mix the last tablespoon of soaking liquid with the starch and work that in the same way.

Season with the sugar, chicken bouillon powder, white pepper powder, MSG, soy sauce and Shaoxing wine and mix very well.

Lift the mixture and smack it against the bowl 10 to 15 times to knock out air bubbles.

Mix in the diced shiitake and pork fat, smack it a couple more times and coat with the peanut oil.

Spread on a plate with a thinner dimple in the centre, lay the marinated shiitake slices over, and steam 10 minutes on a steaming rack.

Off the heat, optionally sprinkle more white pepper powder and garnish with chopped cilantro.