We'll first trim the fat off of our pork shoulder (12 oz). Then, we'll cut the pork into strips, slices, and finally, dice them into small bits.

• (An alternative would be pork belly, which is fattier but less healthy. Avoid using leaner cuts, like pork chop or loin.)

Rinse the diced pork in a bowl of water, and lightly massage it.

• In Cantonese cooking, it's fairly common to rinse the redness out of pork. You can see my dad repeat this technique in dishes like Steamed Spare Ribs, Siu Mai, and others. The traditional belief is that this leads to a better taste and appearance.

We'll drain the pork into a colander, and let the pork passively continue draining while we move on to chopping our vegetables. After we're done chopping the veggies, firmly squeeze the pork against the colander to extract some the extra water.

We'll be preparing a few different vegetables:

• pickled mustard (1.5 oz) - cut into small strips
• water chestnut (4 oz) - use the blunt edge of a knife or a spatula to crush the chestnut into bits. Dicing leads to a harder texture that we don't want.
• green onion (2 piece) - cut the green onion into small pieces, separating the whites from the greens. The whites will be mixed in with the patty, and the greens will be used as garnish.

The pickled mustard has a salty flavor, so the water chestnuts help balance out the saltiness and give the whole entire patty a nice crunch.

Before mixing flavors together, don't forget to squeeze the extra water out of the pork!

To the bowl of pork, we'll be adding oyster sauce (1 tbsp), sugar (1 tsp), cornstarch (2 tbsp), sesame oil (1 tsp), chicken bouillon (1 tsp), and white pepper (0.25 tsp).

With chopsticks, mix the pork and flavors thoroughly for about 1 minute. The pork should start becoming stickier and pastier.

Add the green onion whites, water chestnuts, and pickled mustard, and mix everything together for another 2 minutes.

Add oil (0.50 tsp) to a plate, and spread it around the surface. This helps prevent the pork patty from sticking.

Add oil (0.50 tsp) to the pork mixture, and mix it around.

Pour the pork mixture onto the plate, and flatten the pork patty with a spoon. Add a bit more oil to the top and spread it around for an extra glisten.

We'll set the stove to high heat and start boiling water in a wok. Set a steamer rack on the bottom of the wok. The water level should be just above the top of the steamer rack / just touching the bottom of the dish.

Once the water is boiling, we'll carefully set the plate inside of the wok. Cover the wok and steam for 15 minutes. (If you're using a metal plate, subtract 2-3 minutes).

Once the 15 minutes are up, we'll carefully remove the plate from the wok. Garnish with the green onions from earlier.

Call your loved ones over! Time to eat!