If Mandu, you candu too! Day 13

Today is the day!

I am going to attempt, (theatrical sounding music) Mandu or Korean Dumplings.

Dumplings are created world wide, you can buy them at any Asian restaurant. One of our favourites is Barilla Dumplings in Mt Eden where you can get 20 delicious delicacies for $13NZ. However as we are now in the midst of challenging ourselves to eat at home, I am going to attempt to make them myself.

This post will also feature on a monthly link up party known as The Growing Edge. This cool event aims to link up foodies from all around the world and share their fabulous ideas and recipes! This month it is being hosted by Marija from Palachinka.

For more details see Bunny. Eats, Design’s information page.

I spent my Sunday Morning collecting dumpling wrappers, Asian Chives and my courage, before I headed home to start the dumpling making. The recipe I found online, seemed easy enough to follow, but creating those delicate little packages that I love to eat seemed more of a challenge.

This challenge was not helped when I managed to pop the top off the grounded black pepper, which then sprayed itself all over my kitchen table and me. Coughing and spluttering, I still managed to create these;

Mandu – Korean Dumplings

NB: I got this recipe from http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/mandu and made some slight adjustments to it.
Makes around 110 Dumplings

Ingredients:

250g of Pork Mince
500g of Beef Mince
1 Bunch of Asian Chives (chopped)
8 soaked Shitake Mushrooms
1 onion
1 cake of Tofu
6 cloves of minced garlic
2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of sugar
Quite a bit of Sesame Oil
2 packets of dumpling wrappers

Method:

Make filling:

Soak the Shitake Mushrooms for around 1/2 an hour
Place the ground pork and ground beef into a big bowl. Add 1 ts of salt, 1 tbs of sesame oil, ½ ts of ground pepper and combine. Push to one side of the bowl.
Wash some Asian chives, and dry well with a paper towel or cotton cloth. Chop them into 2 cups’ worth of chives. Add 1 tbs of oil and mix it up. Place it in the big bowl next to the ground meat.
Chop 4-5 soaked shiitake mushrooms and onion and put into a small bowl. Then Add 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp of sugar, and 2 tsp of sesame oil.
Combine (as below) and then add to the large bowl.
Squeeze a half package of tofu with a cotton cloth or paper towel and put it into a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 1 ts of sesame oil. Mix it by hand and then put it next to chopped chives.
In the big bowl, add 3 cloves of minced garlic and mix all ingredients by hand.

The filling is complete!

For fried mandu:

Put some of the filling mixture into the center of the dumpling wrapper skin.
Use your fingertips to apply a little cold water to one edge of the skin. This is to seal the wrapper together.
Fold skin in half over filling and press edges together to make ripple shape.
Place some vegetable oil on heated pan and add the mandu you made.
Lower the heat to low-medium and put the lid on the pan to cook.
Turn over each mandu a few minutes later. Add 2-3 tbs of water and put the lid back on the pan. Cook a few minutes more over low heat.
When the mandu is golden brown, transfer it to a plate.
Serve hot with a dipping sauce made of equal parts vinegar and soy sauce.

For steamed Mandu:

Follow steps 1 -3 above and then;

Fill a pot with water and bring to the boil.
Fill a bamboo steamer with dumplings – be careful they do not touch or they will stick. (I tend to put paper towels under them to help even out the steam distribution.)
Place a steamer on top and then place the bamboo steamer in.
Cook for around five minutes or until the dumpling skins are clear.

And that is it!

If you want to freeze them, place them on the tray freshly made in a single layer. Make sure they are not touching and freeze for around 2 hours. Then transfer into air tight bags.

You can store them for 1 – 3 months and cook them from frozen as above.

So that’s it, a few minor disasters, but overall an awesome result.

Tune in for more Asian deliciousness on our final day for Week 2 tomorrow.

Ginga Musings.