Remove the skin from the pork belly and cut into 40 pieces. Marinate with the pork belly marinade ingredients and refrigerate overnight.

Soak the mushrooms, chestnuts, bamboo leaves, and grass water strings overnight.

On the following day, wipe the bamboo leaves to remove any dirt, wiping from head to tail (this helps prevent the cloth from getting stuck.)

Place in a pot of hot water for 15 minutes to soften. Cut off the stiff top part.

Stack the leaves to prevent drying (don't need to wipe dry). If they dry out, soak them in water again.

Wash the mung beans until the water runs clear. Soak for 1 hour 45 minutes. Test by gently pressing them, they should easily break apart . Remove excess water.

Wash the glutinous rice until clear and soak for 30 minutes. You will notice the rice puffing up slightly. Remove excess water and set aside.

Remove the red membrane from the chestnuts and cook for 25 minutes until they break easily with a fork.

Wash the dried shrimps and soak for 10 minutes.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and halve them.

Clean the salted eggs, extract the yolks, and cut each in half.

Thinly slice 300 grams of shallots.

Add 4 cups of cooking oil to a pan. Fry the shallots on medium heat until the edges turn slightly golden brown. Then reduce the heat to low and continue frying until slightly golden brown, then remove from heat. The residual heat will turn them golden brown. Do not fry until fully golden as they may become burnt from the residual heat and become bitter.

Sauté the mushrooms with 2-3 tablespoons of shallot oil until fragrant. Then add the seasoning and saute until fragrant.

Sauté the chestnuts separately with 2-3 tablespoons of shallot oil. Add seasoning and saute until fragrant.

Sauté the dried shrimps with 2-3 tablespoons of shallot oil until fragrant.

Clean the wok. Add 2 tablespoons of lard and 2 cups of shallot oil to the hot wok.

Add the soaked glutinous rice and toss until coated. Add all rice seasoning and continue frying until fragrant. The rice will become slightly sticky.

Arrange all the fillings in the order they will be placed: mung beans, pork belly, salted egg yolk, mushroom, chestnut, dried shrimps, fried shallots, shallot oil.

Fold 2-3 bamboo leaves into a cone shape, smooth side facing inwards. Make sure the corners overlap to prevent rice from falling out.

Add about 1 tablespoon of rice and press tightly. Then add mung beans, one piece of meat, half of a salted egg yolk, one piece of mushroom, one chestnut, dried shrimps, fried shallots and some shallot oil. Add more mung beans and top with more rice.

Press the filling until it is compact. Gently press the sides with your thumb and index finger while using the other hand to fold the bamboo leaves. You will see a tail. Fold the tail towards you to form a pyramid shape. If the bamboo leaves are not long enough, add an extra leaf if needed. Secure tightly with grass water string or kitchen string.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Gently add the dumplings and reduce to a gentle simmer — the water should only be gently bubbling to prevent the dumplings from falling out.

Cook for approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. Monitor the water level and top up with boiling water as needed to keep the dumplings fully submerged.

They are done when the rice is tender and the pork belly fat has a melt-in-the-mouth texture. Remove from the pot and allow to cool to room temperature.(note: you can remove one dumpling to test.)