Bánh Bôt Loc (Vietnamese Shrimp and Pork Dumplings)

Marinate the pork belly with 1/2 tbsp annatto seed oil, 1/2 clove chopped garlic, 1/2 chopped red shallot, 1/4 tbsp white pepper, 1/4 tbsp chicken bouillon powder, 1/4 tbsp fish sauce and 1 tsp paprika for 20 minutes.

Use the remaining seasoning to marinate the shrimp at the same time.

Heat up a pan with 3 tbsp cooking oil on high heat and stir fry the marinated pork belly for 5 minutes or until 80% cooked, then add the marinate shrimp in to cook for 5 minutes or until both are cooked through.

Let it cool as you work on the dough.

Combine the tapioca starch, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

Pour 1 cup of the hot water onto the starch mixture and mix it well. The dough will be crumbly at first, but keep kneading until it begins to form a dry dough.

Add the oil and knead through.

Slowly pour in the remaining hot water and knead it in until the starch has formed a smooth dough resembling the texture of playdough.

Roll the dough into a long log and divide it into smaller portions. Use your hands to roll the segments into balls. Keep the balls in a plastic bag so they don't dry out.Note: The size of each ball depends on how big you want each Bánh Bôt Loc to be. Ours are roughly 1.5cm (0.6") thick.

Take one ball out and flatten it using your palms. Then use your thumb and index finger to press the flattened dough until it is 10cm (4") in diameter, or to preference.

Fill the dough with 1 tsp of the pork and shrimp filling.

Fold one end over to the other to make a semi-circle and seal the touching edges by pressing them tightly together.

Place each complete one on a plate as you work on the rest.Note: While foolproof, I find that using the hand pressed method yields a thicker wrap and you don't get to see the filling as well as you would with a thinner wrapper. See the next step for how to solve this.

To make the dough thinner, take each ball and roll it thin (roughly 2mm/0.08" thick) using a rolling pin. Keep the unrolled balls in a plastic bag to stay moist and work in this fashion: roll, fill, seal, then start a new one and roll, fill seal.

Use a rolling pin and roll the entire dough ball flat so that it's 2mm (0.08") thick.

Using a round cookie cutter or cup, cut out circles.

Transfer the circles to a plastic bag so they don't dry out. Fill and seal as you would for the hand pressed method.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the dumplings 5-10 at a time, depending on how big your pot is. Avoid overcrowding as this will reduce the cooking temperature. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until the Bánh Bôt Loc has been floating for 5 minutes.

While the first batch is cooking, fill up a large bowl with cold water. As soon as the dumplings are cooked, use a slotted spoon to transfer them into the cold water. This will help them become translucent.

Mix the scallions with the salt and chicken bouillon powder, then heat up the oil until you start to see it smoking.

Pour the hot oil over the scallions to sizzle and stir until combined.

Remove the dumplings from the cold water using a slotted spoon.

Spoon some of the scallion oil over the top, then enjoy the Bánh Bôt Loc dipped in a Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nước Mắm)!