Mandoo Can-Do

Mandoo is the Korean word for dumpling.

Gun mandoo is pan-fried (or grilled) - think gyoza at a Japanese restaurant.
Mool mandoo (mool means water) is boiled - think wonton soup. 
Jjim mandoo is steamed - like the famous Din Tai Fung dumplings. 
And Tuigim mandoo is deep-fried - like the crumpled-up-napkin-shape wontons you get with American Chinese take-out. 

I hadn't made mandoo since I was a youngster - helping my Grandma, sitting/squatting on newspaper strewn across the kitchen floor, with a giant stainless steel bowl filled with stuffing, what seemed like thousands of lightly-floured mandoo skins, and a bowl of egg wash.  I've always wanted to make mandoo on my own, but always forgot to buy the skins, forgot to buy ground meat, excuses, excuses, excuses.

Finally - all the stars & planets aligned, and I made mandoo for the first time - all by myself - last weekend.

I had gone to the Korean market earlier in the week and bought fresh ground beef & pork (the ground beef was $0.99/pound!), remembered to buy the skins, and picked up some kimchi & super cheap green onions (usually 10 bunches for $1).

When my mom and grandma made mandoo - I don't remember exactly what ingredients (nor in what proportions) they used, but I think I did a pretty good job of eyeballing it.  Here's my ingredient list, to the best of my estimation...


INGREDIENTS:
1/2# ground beef
1/2# ground pork
1 bunch green onions - washed, drained & diced (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup diced kimchi
1 egg
Egg wash (I happened to have just egg whites leftover from a custard recipe - you can use a traditional egg wash of 1 whole egg & some water)
salt
white pepper
oil & water for frying

Step 1:
Mix ground meats, diced green onions, kimchi & 1 whole egg in a bowl.  (The best way to this is by hand - I wore a disposable plastic glove just like Mom.  Grandma always dug in, bare-knuckle.)  Season to taste with salt & pepper. (Warning: Ingestion of raw meat and dairy products is not recommended by the FDA and may cause illness - but my mom does it all the time... just be careful & consider yourself forewarned.)

Step 2:
Prep a cookie tray or baking sheet, lined with wax paper.  Open package of "potsticker/wonton skins" or comparable product (or make your own). Prepare egg wash in a small bowl.

Step 3:
Get into the groove! Peel off a skin, spoon approximately 2/3 Tablespoon of stuffing into the middle of the skin in an oval shape. Dip your finger in the egg wash and moisten edges of half the circumference (2 of 4 sides if using the square skins).  Starting from the middle - join 2 opposite edges and smooth together to make a nice half-moon shape.

Repeat until you've used up all the skins or all the stuffing - whichever comes first!  I had stuffing leftover and made little patties (thinking back, I should have dumped the rest of the egg whites and some flour in too, so they'd stick together better... but they tasted just fine albeit crumbly!)

Step 4:
After heating up a small amount of oil (less than 1 Ts) in a large pan/skillet, I fried the meat patties first.  I did this deliberately to get the pan/oil "dirty" for better coloring on the gun mandoo.

Then I started freaming (this is what I call the method of frying in oil & water at the same time) the mandoo.  With a little bit of oil in the pan, I placed 3-4 mandoo (don't crowd them) in the pan - then added a splash of water and covered with a lid.  Depending on how fatty your mandoo are (and mine were bursting at the seams) - adjust the flame strength and cooking time per side.

I kept my flame on medium-low and cooked each side for 3-4 minutes.

If you start out with a "clean" pan/oil - you don't get that great browning - but rest assured they are just as good!

I fried up 8-9 mandoo for me and the Spouse's brunch.  The rest I stored with layers of wax paper between and froze.  They'll be good pan-fried, dropped in with some ramen, or steamed at a later date.   I think they should definitely keep for up to a month (if not up to 3 months) in the freezer.

For the ones we ate immediately, I whipped up my usual dumpling/jun dipping sauce:

INGREDIENTS:
1 part soy sauce
2/3 part rice vinegar
Splash of mirin
Splash of sesame oil
Sprinkle of sesame seeds
Dash of gochugaru (red chili pepper powder)

Stir briskly together & enjoy!