Mandu (Korean dumplings)

Mandu (Korean Dumplings) pictures (1 of 6)

Lunar New Year is celebrated throughout Asia, notably China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Southeast Asia countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Even though I know that Koreans celebrate Lunar New Year, I don’t really know much about the traditions. I invited my friend Hyosun at Eating and Living back to share a Korean mandu recipe with us, as well as educate us about Korean Lunar New Year. (Previously, Hyosun shared her delicious bulgogi recipe with us.) Please welcome Eating and Living and enjoy her kimchi mandu!

Hi! I’m Hyosun from Eating and Living, the Korean home cooking blog. I am delighted to be back here at Rasa Malaysia, especially when Bee is featuring a series of special recipes for the Lunar New Year’s celebration. This time, Bee asked if I could share a mandu (Korean dumplings) recipe, which Koreans enjoy as part of the New Year’s festivities. Celebrated for three days, the Lunar New Year (Seollal) is the most significant traditional holiday in Korea. It is a time for families to gather and pay respect to ancestors, through an ancestral rite (charae), and enjoy traditional food and games. Young people also honor their elders, by wishing them a prosperous and healthy New Year, with a deep bow (sebae) and receive gifts (usually money) in return. Growing up, this was one my favorite activities of New Year’s day. We always wore a new traditional dress (hanbok) and visited the elders of relatives and family friends to perform sebae. I remember I was a happy little kid with lots of money in my special little pouch made for the occasion.

Food, of course, is a big part of the New Year celebration in Korea. As is the case in many cultures, it’s a tradition to gather around the table to make the dumplings in preparation of the New Year’s feast. There are many variations of Korean dumplings. Here, I decided to share a dumpling recipe made with kimchi. What can be more Korean than a dish made with kimchi? Kimchi mandu is especially popular for making manduguk (dumpling soup) or tteok-manduguk (a variation of rice cake soup, tteokguk, with dumplings), which is a must-eat New Year’s dish. With its pungent flavor and crunchy texture, the kimchi version adds a nice contrast to the mildly flavored broth and soft rice cake slices. I steamed the dumplings for this post, but you can cook them your favorite way. I hope you make some Korean dumplings as part of your lunar New Year celebration! Happy New Year!

(Click Page 2 for the Mandu Recipe/Korean Dumplings)

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Mandu, a Korean fav

Also known as gyoza, or potstickers. It's a pork and zucchini filled dumpling with a thin wrapper. These are boiled, and can be served as is. Usually, you see these guys deep fried as well, with dipping sauce. In Korea, for the new year, they're put into a soup with rice cakes and is very tasty.

RECIPE (from my mom's magic recipe book)
Ingredients:
1 package of gyoza wrappers (50ct) - may be bought at any Asian food store
1/2 lbs coarsely chopped pork (NOT ground)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 medium sized zucchini ("Asian" zucchini preferred)
1 medium size onion - finely chopped
1 egg

1. Combine all filling ingredients into bowl and mix well. Drain as much fluid as possible.
2. Then take a wrapper, place 1/2 tsp of filling in the middle of the wrapper, wet the edges of the wrapper lightly, and then close the edges, sealing well. Be careful not to overfill.
3. Once all the mandu are assembled, bring a pot of water to a raging boil and carefully drop into the water. Boil for 5-6 minutes.
4.Remove from the pot, drain, then lightly drizzle with sesame seed oil and may be served as is with soy sauce, or may be dried and deep fried.

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