Instant Dumplings (Mandu in Korean)

sue — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:28:53 +0000

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

Dumpling Pastry Pizza (Mandupy Pizza in Korean)

My Korean Kitchengyoza | My Korean Kitchen

Instant Dumplings (Mandu in Korean)