Soak mushrooms in hot boiling water until soft and then chop them until quite fine, but not too fine. Same with the dried shrimps, soak them in water (room temperature is fine) and rinse a few times to remove any dirt and excess salt. Then chop the dried shrimps until quite fine, but not too fine, so the chewy texture is still there.

Wash and cut the spring onions (the green section). Reserve some as garnish and finely chop the remaining. Set aside.

Peel the ginger skin. Slice a few pieces and set aside. Finely mince the rest of the ginger and set aside.

Cut and discard base of the Chinese cabbage. Then slice the cabbage lengthwise into halves. Set aside.

Prepare and cook the rice vermicelli according to instruction on the packet. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add the minced shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimps, spring onions and ginger with the pork mince. Then add 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1 small teaspoon of white sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of ground white pepper, 1 tablespoon of corn starch and 1 egg. Mix through thoroughly until the pork mixture is blended together evenly.

Wet both hands with starch water (mix some corn starch or flour with water). This is to make it easier to roll the meatballs without the mixture sticking on the hands. Make small to medium size individual meatballs and place on top of a baking tray.

Preheat the oven at 120 C on a fan forced oven. Once the oven is hot, put the tray of meatballs in the oven and bake/grill for 3 minutes to lightly browned the meatballs. This step will help hold the shape of meatballs and seal the flavours.

Add 4 tablespoons of cooking oil into a clay pot over a medium heat. Once oil is hot, add 4 slices of fresh ginger. Gentle simmer the ginger slices until it releases its aroma into the oil for 30 seconds. Add some Chinese cabbage leaves and lightly fry for 1 minute. Add a bit of chicken stock. Next, add some pork meatballs and more cabbage leaves. Fill the clay pot with chicken stock to almost cover meatballs. Turn heat up to high and cook for 20 minutes. Then lower the heat to a gentle simmer for another 10 minutes to let the flavours infused in the broth.

When it is ready to serve, add some cooked rice vermicelli in a bowl. Then add some of the cabbage leaves and pork meatballs. Top it up with some broth and garnish with chopped spring onions. Add a bit of chilli oil for a spicier broth, which is optional. Or, serve meatballs with some dipping sauce; such as, chilli and hoisin sauce, or a mixture of cut fresh red chillies with light soy.