Soy sauce

From-scratch green curry paste makes all the difference. Worth the food processor. Creamy, fresh, herbal, with just enough heat.

18-hour pork bone broth. Creamy, rich, cloudy white. This is a weekend project, not a weeknight dinner. Worth every hour.

Crispy bottom, steamed top, juicy inside. The potsticker technique makes them perfect every time.

2-hour version using chicken backs instead of pork trotters. Still rich, still real. For when you can't do the full 18-hour odyssey.

Add salmon fillets in the last 8 minutes of simmering. Fish sauce restores the depth that soy sauce can't quite replicate.

Minced shrimp filling with ginger and chives. Pan-fried and steamed the same way. More delicate than pork, quicker to cook.

Same from-scratch paste, chicken thighs instead of tofu. Fish sauce instead of soy. The most ordered Thai dish in the UK for a reason.

Finely chopped shiitake and oyster mushrooms with pressed tofu and chives. Squeeze out all the moisture — this is the critical step.

Korean twist on gyoza: kimchi and glass noodles in the filling, no pleating required. Just fold and pinch.