what are you making?

vietnamese style shrimp cakes

Flour should be fine then.

I would consider arrowroot powder.

You have to be careful substituting flour for cornstarch: Flour has half the thickening power and tends to taste like what it is, raw flour. The best substitute depends on the temperature the dish will be cooked to and the other ingredients. Arrowroot or tapioca maybe…

For Vietnamese fish cakes, I believe the cornstarch is there for texture, not thickening. That's why I think the flour should be ok. It might not produce the same texture, but it should work to a certain extent. I figured that since katei does not have cornstarch, chances are he/she does not have the arrowroot or tapioca starch either.

I wasn't disagreeing with you HalfPint, only suggesting caution which I guess wasn’t necessary since apparently you were one step ahead of me. If you know anything about Vietnamese shrimp cakes you know more than I do.