Mandu – Korean dumplings

mandu 2

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

chopped cabbagechopped onionmandu mixture

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!

jaina making mandutaron making mandu

 The kids earning their keep!

Recipe adapted from www.taste.com.au


8 thoughts on “Mandu – Korean dumplings

  1. 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!

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