Here is an easy-to-make recipe for dumplings. These home-made Korean dumplings will have you abandoning your frozen bag from the grocery store faster than you can say “MANDU!”
I haven’t made mandu in a long time and I was feeling intimidated. It seemed like a lot of work. But when I got down to it, it really was not more work than making meatballs. And it was less messy. Now if you think making meatballs is still too much work, I might not be able to persuade you to make dumplings.
If you are on board to make them, you will be rewarded. They are delicious!
I must confess that having a dumpling press not only makes mandu-making easier, it also makes them look pretty. I found this press years ago in a dollar store and it has sat in the far corners of a cabinet since then. This summer when I was overly pregnant, my friend was helping me clean. She almost threw the press out. Boy was I glad I stopped her! And boy was I glad she found it back! I might have to make her some mandu as a thank you.
The time you need: prep time: 15 mins cook time: 7 mins (per batch)
The things you need:
- 400 g lean ground pork
- 1 cup cabbage shredded
- 2 green onions
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tbsp minced garlic (2 – 3 cloves, depending on size)
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 30 frozen dumpling skin wrappers (available in most grocery stores)
The how to:
- chop your cabbage nice and fine
- chop up your green onions
- add the veggies to the ground pork
- add remaining ingredients and mix well
Method one: “hand” made
- Lay a dumpling skin on your hand
- Place 1 teaspoon of meat mixture in the centre (‘re’ because I’m Canadian!)
- Wet the edges of half the skin
- Fold over and press together and pinch
Method two: a dumpling press
- Lay a dumpling skin on your handy-dandy press
- Place 1 teaspoon of meat mixture in the centre
- Wet the edges of half the skin
- Collapse the press together and squeeeeze!
- heat a frying pan with vegetable oil
- place as many dumplings as will comfortably fit in the pan (you will need to do more than one batch)
- fry for 1-2 mins until the bottoms are brown then flip them over
- add 1/2 cup of water and steam the mandu until the water has evaporated
- fry for another 30 seconds or so and serve with dipping sauce
- WARNING! these will be gone before you have finished frying up the next batch!
The kids earning their keep!
Recipe adapted from www.taste.com.au
Since that friend really likes mandu from a bag, I am sure she would love to try home made mandu! 🙂
She’s right!! I’s soooooo easy!
Love the pictures of the kids in action too!
They love being part of the action 🙂
Can I come and clean out your cupboards next? 🙂 Those look delicious!
Come on over… they are due for another clean! 🙂
um, so, I’ve never considered making these from scratch but you’ve made it look so simple! We love dumplings in this house! Thanks for another great recipe!
Thanks Laurie!