Light, refreshing, and comforting Korean dumpling soup – manduguk recipe!
Manduguk / Mandu-guk (만둣국) is a popular Korean soup particularly on Korean new year’s day.
Growing up I was taught that, north Koreans make manduguk / Korean dumpling soup while south Koreans make tteokguk / Korean rice cake soup on new year’s day morning.
Though, when I was a child our family made tteok manduguk / rice cake soup with dumplings. Maybe because we lived near the middle of the Korean peninsular, so we adapted both. 😉
Nonetheless, manduguk is so delicious, and a quite filling soup.
The taste of manduguk largely depends on the base stock and also the filling ingredients used within the mandu itself.
Among other choices, bone broth, beef stock and anchovy stock is popular. Since I used homemade beef stock in my latest tteokguk recipe, I decided to use a different stock this time. So I used dried anchovy and dried kelp stock.
This stock is much faster to make than beef stock or bone broth and also it is a lot lighter. I also made a note near the end of the post for a cheater’ stock. So don’t forget to read that!
For my mandu, I used my favorite frozen mandu. (See the image below)
This mandu has seriously the best mandu filling inside it amongst all the frozen dumplings available, and the mandu itself is really big, like the size of my fist. Also, this one doesn’t include MSG in it. (Unfortunately, many Korean frozen mandu have MSG. Why!?) So it really made my choice easier and quicker.
If you want to use homemade mandu, I have a kimchi mandu recipe for you. Hopefully I can share more mandu recipes with different fillings in the near future.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my manduguk recipe!
P.S. If you like dumpling soup, you might want to check out my Korean dumpling hot pot recipe. (This soup is spicy.)
Ingredients for Manduguk (Serves 4)
- 8 Korean dumplings (200g – 600g / 0.4 pounds – 1.3 pounds depending on the size of dumplings, rosebud shaped dumplings are common for soup making)
- 4 1/2 cups Korean soup stock (use this recipe, also see note for the alternative)
- 1 Tbsp regular soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 to 2 stalks green onion, thinly sliced
- (optional) 2 eggs, egg white and yolk separated
- (optional) dried seaweed (gim / nori), thinly sliced
- (optional) fine sea salt, to taste
- (optional) black pepper, to taste
How to Make Manduguk
1. Boil the soup stock over medium high heat. Add the soy sauce and garlic. Once the stock is rolling boiling add the dumplings. Boil the soup until the dumplings are fully cooked. (It takes about 2 to 3 minutes for smaller gyoza sized dumplings and 6 to 8 mins for bigger dumplings when covered.)
2. (This is an optional step.) Pan fry the egg white and egg yolk separately at low temperature with a little oil. Additional egg isn’t really necessary since you will be adding the egg into the soup (step 3), but it does present well when the soup is also garnished with the egg whites and egg yolk. Thinly slice them and set them aside until right near the end.
3. Drizzle the beaten egg over the soup like making egg drop soup. Add the sesame oil and green onion.
4. Serve the soup in a bowl and garnish with dried seaweed and/or egg white and egg yolk (optional). Eat while warm with some kimchi and/or steamed rice. You may season the soup with the salt and grindings of black peppers to your taste.
Note
If you’re in a rush and don’t want to invest 20 mins in making Korean soup stock, you can use a mix of 2 cups chicken stock and 2 & 1/2 cups water instead. If so, skip the soy sauce and season with some fine sea salt to taste, if required. (But I think the stock will be just fine without additional salt.) Obviously, chicken stock gives a slightly different flavor compared to Korean soup stock, but it works well as a quick fix.
You can also make manduk using homemade beef stock (with brisket). Refer to this recipe for the idea.
Manduguk (Korean Dumpling Soup)
Ingredients
- 8 Korean dumplings (200g – 600g / 0.4 pounds – 1.3 pounds depending on the size of dumplings, rosebud shaped dumplings are common for soup making)
- 4 1/2 cups Korean soup stock (or see note above for the alternative)
- 1 Tbsp regular soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 eggs , beaten
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 - 2 stalks green onion , thinly sliced
- 2 eggs , egg white and yolk separated (optional)
- dried seaweed (gim / nori), thinly sliced (optional)
- fine sea salt , to taste (optional)
- black pepper , to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Boil the soup stock over medium high heat. Add the soy sauce and garlic. Once the stock is rolling boiling add the dumplings. Boil the soup until the dumplings are fully cooked. (It takes about 2 to 3 minutes for smaller gyoza sized dumplings and 6 to 8 mins for bigger dumplings when covered.)
- (This is an optional step.) Pan fry the egg white and egg yolk separately at low temperature with a little oil. Additional egg isn’t really necessary since you will be adding the egg into the soup (step 3), but it does present well when the soup is also garnished with the egg whites and egg yolk. Thinly slice them and set them aside until right near the end.
- Drizzle the beaten egg over the soup like making egg drop soup. Add the sesame oil and green onion.
- Serve the soup in a bowl and garnish with dried seaweed and/or egg white and egg yolk (optional). Eat while warm with some kimchi and/or steamed rice. You may season the soup with the salt and grindings of black peppers to your taste.
Nutrition Info (per serving)
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
