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1
Combine the wheat starch and tapioca starch in a heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling water over the starches all at once and stir immediately and vigorously with a wooden spoon until a rough dough forms. Turn onto a surface and knead briefly until smooth. The dough is ready when it is cohesive, pliable, and still warm to the touch — not sticky, not cracking at the edges.
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2
Season the dry shrimp with salt, sesame oil, white pepper, and cornstarch. Mix in the diced water chestnuts or bamboo shoots. Pinch a small piece of the mixture and press it between two fingers, then release: it must spring back immediately with a definitive snap (the tan test). If the filling is slack or slow to recover, the shrimp were not dry enough or the seasoning is insufficient.
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3
Keep the dough covered and work with it while warm. Divide into portions of approximately 12 g each. Place one portion on the flat of a cleaver blade, press down and rotate the blade slightly to spread the dough into a thin, round disc. This is where the dish lives or dies: if the dough has cooled it will crack and cannot be pleated; if the wrapper is too thick it will be opaque and doughy after steaming. The finished disc should be thin enough to show light through it and have a slightly curved, smooth edge that will accept pleating.
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4
Place a small amount of shrimp filling in the centre of each wrapper. Fold the wrapper over into a half-moon, then pleat the top edge only, working from one end to the other, pressing each pleat firmly into the unpleated back edge to seal. The industry standard is a minimum of seven pleats; the wrapper must be entirely sealed with no gaps.
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5
Arrange the dumplings in a lightly oiled bamboo steamer without crowding. Steam over a wok of rapidly boiling water at full boil for 6 to 8 minutes. The dumplings are done when the wrappers are fully translucent — the pink of the shrimp is clearly visible through the skin — and the wrapper holds its form, firm enough to be lifted cleanly by chopsticks without tearing.