One thing I don’t like about winter is its weather. It is just too cold, so I am not as motivated as other seasons to cook any meals. I just want to stay in my room and snuggle up. However the fact that we have to eat to survive is what makes me still cook something. I have to admit that I am a lazy cook. 
So this is what we had for dinner last night. No rice! No Kimchi! Just some instant fried mandu. (We had kind of a big lunch luckily, so we could cope with just some mandu for dinner.)
I bought these packs last week at Homeplus. It was really a good deal, because I got these two packs (total 2.4 kg) for 5,880 won (US $ 6.20). Great Bargain isn’t it? So I still have lots more bunches to go. (I am planning to make some mandu soup this weekend.)
I pan fried them, not deep frying. I think pan frying is a more common way to eat mandu instead of deep frying in Korea, and pan fried mandu is called “Gunmandu” in Korean. To get the best result (crispy texture), defrost them completely before you cook them.
You can also steam them or cook them with a microwave.
If you steam them, you can get a result like this. (Eat them when it is still hot. When it gets cold, it is not yummy.)
Steamed mandu is “Jjinmandu” in Korean and I personally prefer fried mandu.
There are lots of kinds of mandu, such as Kimchi mandu, Meat mandu, Squid mandu, Seafood mandu, even Pizza mandu. The mandu I bought was Japchae mandu.
You can use some soy sauce as a dipping sauce, but I added some extra ingredients for flavour.
Sweet and sour dipping sauce : (Mix these in a bowl)
- Soy sauce – 2tsp
- Vinegar (I used apple vinegar) – 1/2 tsp
- Plum extract – 2 tsp
- Garlic – 1/10 tsp
- Chili powder – 1 sprinkle
- Sesame oil – 1 dash
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Hi baobaighost,
Does black vinegar smell better? I didn’t know that. Thanks.
)
I don’t watch any Korean TV programs though, it seems that drinking black vinegar is kind of a trend in Korea at the moment. (Apparently it is good for health. Koreans.. health freaks indeed.
Hi,
To me, black vinegar is black color vinegar. My sister said that black vinegar smells better than the regular vinegar. I think the flavor is stronger.
What is the black vinegar like? I’ve never used it before. I might try the way you described next time.
Yum! I like to eat this too! The Chinese call the pan-fried version ‘potstickers’ or ‘guo tie’ and use black vinegar and minced ginger for the dipping sauce.
Thank you both of you.
It was quite nice. I like sweet and sour sauce.
I agree with Kat..
The dipping sauce sounds really good!